title: Attentional functions in children and adolescents with ADHD, depressive disorders, and the comorbid condition.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and depressive disorders (DDs) often co-occur in children and adolescents, but evidence on the respective influence of these disorders on attention parameters is inconsistent. This study examines the influence of DDs on ADHD in a model-oriented approach that includes selectivity and intensity attention parameters.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ten- to fifteen-year-olds with ADHD (n=63), DDs (n=61), ADHD+DDs (n=64), and healthy controls (n=64) completed a battery of tests including five neuropsychological tasks (i.e., alertness, sustained attention, divided attention, go/no-go, and attentional set-shifting).
  
  
  RESULTS
  All clinical groups showed attentional problems, especially in more complex attentional tasks and in the intensity aspects of attention. We observed the most severe attentional impairments in children with ADHD that was independent from a comorbid DD.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The clinical groups were significantly different from the healthy control group, especially in more complex attentional tasks and in the intensity aspects of attention. Some differences between ADHD, DDs and ADHD+DDs groups were detected on neuropsychological attentional performance, but the effects were not strong enough to differentiate the clinical groups from each other.
authors.affiliation: Child Neuropsychology Section, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen University, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Günther
authors.forename: Kerstin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Konrad
authors.forename: Stéphane A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: De Brito
authors.forename: Beate
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Herpertz-Dahlmann
authors.forename: Timo D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Vloet
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001288:Attention; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests