ADHD Poster Presentations at AACAP 2010

A series of poster presentations focusing on the evaluation and management of ADHD were presented on Saturday, Oct. 30, at the AACAP 57th Annual Meeting. Below, each is summarized.

Delinquent but Not Aggressive Behaviors in Children Predict Adolescent Substance Abuse in Individuals Diagnosed with ADHDPresenters: Seth Harty, Stavroula Galanopoulos, Jeffrey Newcorn, and Jeffrey Halperin

Purpose: To which the degree to which childhood ratings of aggression and delinquency predict adolescent substance abuse outcomes in youths diagnosed with ADHD.

Results: Researchers found that childhood delinquency predicted adolescent substance abuse and marijuana use and revealed a trend for history of cigarette use, and childhood aggression was not significantly associated with any substance abuse measures. Therefore, addressing delinquent behaviors in individuals with ADHD may mitigate the development of later substance abuse disorders.

Prediction of Preschool Aggression in from Child Dopamine Risk, Parental ADHD Symptomology, and Home ChaosPresenters: Judith Auerbach, Tali Farbiash, Andrea Berger, Naama Atzaba-Poria, and Rivka Landau-Leidner

Purpose: To determine the influence of genetic and environmental risk on aggression in 4- and 5-year-old boys who have been followed longitudinally from birth as part of the Ben-Gurion Infant Development Study (BIDS).

Results: The D4 dopamine receptor gene (D4DR) was shown to predict child aggression at 4.5 years of age; these findings emphasize the importance of parental ADHD symptoms as an environmental risk factor for the child’s aggression during the preschool years. No interaction, however, was found between the genetic and the environmental risk factors in the study. In addition, home chaos as a partial mediator of the relation between maternal ADHD symptoms and the child’s aggression can be one of the targets designated in behavioral interventions.

Parent Perceptions of ADHD Diagnosis and Treatment through Focus GroupsPresenters: Daniel Coletti, PhD, Elizabeth Pappadopulos, PhD, Nikki Katsiotas, Alison Berest, Peter Jensen, MD, and Vivian Kafantaris, MD

Purpose: Utilizing focus group methods, investigators aimed to elicit parent experiences of experiences of receiving an ADHD diagnosis for their child and understand their decision-making process for accepting and persisting with stimulant treatment.

Results: Analyses showed that a key facilitator of adherence was an expectation that stimulant medication would lead to functional improvements beyond mere symptom relief, and that parents saw value in explanations of ADHD that used a chronic illness metaphor. Parent accounts obtained from the focus groups illuminated several social, behavioral, cognitive, and affective dimensions that influence decisions to accept medication treatment recommendations.

Examination of Baseline Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Comorbidities and Their Association with Caregiver Stress and DepressionPresenters: Phaedra Pascoe, Carol Rockhill, MD, PhD, Kathleen Myers, MD, MPH, MS, Nancy Palmer, PhD, Ann Vander Stoep, PhD, John Geyer, and Cari McCarty, PhD

Purpose: Researchers sought to examine the prevalence of ADHD with comorbid opposition disorder (ODD) and/or comorbid anxiety disorders according to the Child Behavior Checklist (CBC) and the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC), the amount of agreement between the CBCL and DISC in diagnosing ADHD comorbidities, and the association between ADHD with and without comorbidities and caregiver stress and depression.

Results: The CBCL and DISC had poor agreement, even after taking into consideration differences in the types of anxiety disorders measured. Higher depression and caregiver strain among caregivers of children with ADHD and ODD or ADHD, anxiety, and ODD as compared to caregivers of children with ADHD alone suggests the need for future research to consider both ODD and anxiety comorbidities with ADHD while examining the association between caregiver depression and comorbidity.