Differential patterns of brain activation over time in adolescents with and without attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) during performance of a sustained attention task.
OBJECTIVE
Recent morphometric studies suggest that children with ADHD may demonstrate differential or delayed brain development compared with children without ADHD. This study examines the developmental course of brain activation patterns during the performance of an attention task.


METHODS
Ten adolescents with ADHD and 14 healthy comparison adolescents performed a continuous performance task in an fMRI twice, one year apart.


RESULTS
In the absence of performance differences, children with ADHD and healthy comparison subjects activated frontal-parietal regions while performing an attention task at initial testing. Children with ADHD appeared to require continued use of the right middle frontal gyrus during administration of testing one year apart while healthy comparison subjects did not activate this region at the time of the second testing.


CONCLUSIONS
There appear to be developmental differences in brain activation patterns on an attentional task between ADHD and healthy controls. More research is needed for examining the longitudinal course of functional brain activation in children with ADHD.
Epstein
J N
JN
Department of Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA. jeff .epstein@cchmc.org
Delbello
M P
MP
Adler
C M
CM
Altaye
M
M
Kramer
M
M
Mills
N P
NP
Strakowski
S M
SM
Holland
S
S
D000293:Adolescent; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005583:Fourier Analysis; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011930:Reaction Time
D010100:Oxygen