title: Cortical thickness in fetal alcohol syndrome and attention deficit disorder.
abstract: Fetal alcohol syndrome represents the classic and most severe manifestation of epigenetic changes induced by exposure to alcohol during pregnancy. Often these patients develop attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. We analyzed cortical thickness in 20 children and adolescents with fetal alcohol syndrome and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (group 1), in 20 patients without fetal alcohol syndrome (group 2), and in 20 control cases. The first group revealed total cortical thickness significantly superior to those of the other two groups. In per-lobe analyses of cortical thickness, group 1 demonstrated greater cortical thickness in the frontal, occipital, and right temporal and left frontal lobes compared with the second group, and in both temporal lobes and the right frontal lobe compared with the control group. This study demonstrated greater cortical thickness in patients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and heavy prenatal exposure to alcohol, probably as an expression of immature or abnormal brain development.
authors: Pediatric Neurology Unit, Hospital Universitario Quirón Madrid, Madrid, Spain. aferjaen@telefonica.net
authors: Alberto
authors: A
authors: Fernández-Jaén
authors: Daniel Martín
authors: DM
authors: Fernández-Mayoralas
authors: Diana
authors: D
authors: Quiñones Tapia
authors: Beatriz
authors: B
authors: Calleja-Pérez
authors: Juan Manuel
authors: JM
authors: García-Segura
authors: Sonia López
authors: SL
authors: Arribas
authors: Nuria
authors: N
authors: Muñoz Jareño
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000473:pathology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D063647:Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D059906:Neuroimaging / Q000379:methods; D011247:Pregnancy; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric