Comparison of cognitive function in children with different subtypes of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To explore the heterogeneity of behavioral problems and cognitive function of three subtypes of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder(ADHD), and to analyze the related factors of cognitive function.Methods:The outpatients with ADHD were evaluated by Wechsler children′s intelligence test (C-WISC), SNAP-Ⅳ parental rating scale (SNAP-Ⅳ), Conners parental symptom questionnaire (PSQ) and 12 online cognitive function tests. The differences of behavioral problems and cognitive function of children with different subtypes of ADHD, and the correlation between their intelligence level, PSQ, SNAP-Ⅳ and cognitive function were compared by SPSS 22.0 software.Results:The results of PSQ questionnaire showed that ADHD-C ((1.11±0.59), (1.59±0.58), (1.62±0.50)) had higher behavior problems, impulse-hyperactivity and hyperactivity index than ADHD-I ((0.64±0.27), (1.01±0.54), (1.09±0.32)) and ADHD-HI ((0.75±0.35), (1.22±0.58), (1.05±0.38)) ( F=9.374, F=7.644, F=15.176, P<0.05), while ADHD-C (2.01±0.55) had higher learning problems than ADHD-I (1.66±0.58) and ADHD-HI (1.16±0.43) ( F=11.709, P<0.05). In terms of cognitive function, there were differences in language understanding ability, digital reasoning ability, sequence relationship and short-term memory ability ( χ2=6.734, 7.192, 7.822, 8.646, all P<0.05) among the three groups of ADHD children. ADHD-HI (4.00(4.00, 5.00), 5.00(4.25, 6.00), 5.00(4.00, 7.00)) had better language understanding ability, digital reasoning ability and sequence relationship than ADHD-I (3.00(2.00, 5.00), 3.00(2.50, 6.00), 4.00(3.00, 5.50)). The short-term memory ability of ADHD-HI (5.00(4.00, 6.00)) and ADHD-C (5.00(4.00, 6.00)) were better than that of ADHD-I (4.00(3.00, 5.00)). The intellectual structure of ADHD children was positively correlated with spatial cognitive ability, sequential relationship, Raven reasoning test, short term memory span and Wisconsin card sorting test ( r=0.25-0.57, all P<0.05). Children′s learning problems and psychosomatic problems were negatively correlated with their digital comprehension ability ( r=-0.26, -0.25, both P<0.05). Conclusion:The behavioral problems and cognitive function of children with different subtypes of ADHD are different and have a certain correlation.