title: Distinct frontal lobe morphology in girls and boys with ADHD.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study investigated whether frontal lobe cortical morphology differs for boys and girls with ADHD (ages 8-12 years) in comparison to typically developing (TD) peers.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants included 226 children between the ages of 8-12 including 93 children with ADHD (29 girls) and 133 TD children (42 girls) for which 3T MPRAGE MRI scans were obtained. A fully automated frontal lobe atlas was used to generate functionally distinct frontal subdivisions, with surface area (SA) and cortical thickness (CT) assessed in each region. Analyses focused on overall diagnostic differences as well as examinations of the effect of diagnosis within boys and girls.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Girls, but not boys, with ADHD showed overall reductions in total prefrontal cortex (PFC) SA. Localization revealed that girls showed widely distributed reductions in the bilateral dorsolateral PFC, left inferior lateral PFC, right medial PFC, right orbitofrontal cortex, and left anterior cingulate; and boys showed reduced SA only in the right anterior cingulate and left medial PFC. In contrast, boys, but not girls, with ADHD showed overall reductions in total premotor cortex (PMC) SA. Further localization revealed that in boys, premotor reductions were observed in bilateral lateral PMC regions; and in girls reductions were observed in bilateral supplementary motor complex. In line with diagnostic group differences, PMC and PFC SAs were inversely correlated with symptom severity in both girls and boys with ADHD.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results elucidate sex-based differences in cortical morphology of functional subdivisions of the frontal lobe and provide additional evidence of associations among SA and symptom severity in children with ADHD.
authors.affiliation: Center for Neurodevelopmental and Imaging Research, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dirlikov
authors.affiliation: Center for Neurodevelopmental and Imaging Research, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA ; Department of Neuropsychology, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Keri
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shiels Rosch
authors.affiliation: Center for Neurodevelopmental and Imaging Research, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Deana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Crocetti
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA ; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA ; Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Martha B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Denckla
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychology, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA ; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA.
authors.forename: E Mark
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Mahone
authors.affiliation: Center for Neurodevelopmental and Imaging Research, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA ; Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA ; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA.
authors.forename: Stewart H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Mostofsky
mesh_terms: D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000473:pathology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male
keywords: ADHD sex-differences; Cortical morphology; Development; Frontal lobe