title: Psychiatric comorbidities in adolescents with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and their siblings.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Despite high psychiatric comorbidities in adolescents with clinical diagnosis of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), little is known about psychiatric comorbidities in their siblings. We investigated the psychiatric comorbid conditions in adolescents with ADHD, their siblings, and healthy control subjects from their school.
  
  
  METHODS
  The sample included 136 adolescent probands with ADHD according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV), diagnostic criteria; 136 siblings (47 affected and 89 unaffected) and 136 age- and sex-matched healthy school control subjects. All participants and their parents received the structured psychiatric interviews for current and lifetime DSM-IV psychiatric disorders of the participants.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The rate of ADHD (34.6%) in the siblings of probands with ADHD was about 7 times higher than in the general population. Probands with ADHD were significantly more likely than unaffected siblings (OR 6.38; 95% CI 3.43 to 11.88) and healthy school control subjects (OR 9.60; 95% CI 5.31 to 17.34) to have a DSM-IV psychiatric disorder, including oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), conduct disorder (CD), tic disorders, major depressive disorder, specific phobia (more than control subjects only), nicotine use disorder, and sleep disorders. The affected siblings were significantly more likely than healthy school control subjects to have ODD, CD, specific phobia, and to have consumed alcohol (ORs ranging from 2.30 to 20.16).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings suggest that siblings of probands with ADHD have increased risks for ADHD and that the affected siblings have more psychiatric comorbidities than healthy school control subjects. It warrants early identification of ADHD symptoms and other psychiatric comorbid conditions as well in siblings of adolescents with ADHD.
authors.affiliation: Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellow, Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellow, Department of Psychiatry, Beitou Armed Forces Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Li-Kuang
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Chi-Yung
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Shang
authors.forename: Susan Shur-Fen
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Gau
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D002657:Child Development; D015897:Comorbidity; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D002666:Psychology, Child / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D035781:Siblings / Q000523:psychology*; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology