Acute aerobic exercise modulates cognition and cortical excitability in adults with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and healthy controls.

Evidence suggests aerobic exercise has beneficial effects on cognitive performance in adults with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The underlying mechanisms might depend on mechanisms of exercise-mediated brain physiology. The study aims to investigate the effects of acute aerobic exercise on cortical excitability and cognitive performance, and the correlation between these phenomena in adults with ADHD. Twenty-six drug-naïve ADHD adults, and twenty-six age-, and gender-matched healthy controls were assessed with respect to cortical excitability and cognitive performance before and after acute aerobic exercise (a single session for 30 min) or a control intervention. The results show significantly enhanced intracortical facilitation (ICF) and decreased short intracortical inhibition (SICI) after aerobic exercise in healthy subjects. In contrast, SICI was significantly enhanced following acute aerobic exercise in ADHD. In ADHD, furthermore inhibitory control and motor learning were significantly improved after the acute aerobic exercise intervention. Alterations of SICI induced by aerobic exercise, and inhibitory control and motor learning improvement were significantly positively correlated in the ADHD group. Aerobic exercise had partially antagonistic effects in healthy controls, and ADHD patients. Furthermore, aerobic exercise-induced cognition-enhancing effects in ADHD depend on specific alterations of brain physiology, which differ from healthy humans.

An investigation of the acute effects of aerobic exercise on executive function and cortical excitability in adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Previous studies have shown that aerobic exercise has beneficial effects on executive function in adolescents with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The underlying mechanisms could be partially due to aerobic exercise-induced cortical excitability modulation. The aim of this study was to explore the effects of acute aerobic exercise on executive functions and cortical excitability and the association between these phenomena in adolescents with ADHD. The study was conducted using a complete crossover design. Executive functions (inhibitory control, working memory, and planning) and cortical excitability were assessed in twenty-four drug-naïve adolescents with ADHD before and after acute aerobic exercise or a control intervention. Inhibitory control, working memory, and planning improved after acute aerobic exercise in adolescents with ADHD. Moreover, cortical excitability monitored by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) decreased after intervention in this population. Additionally, improvements in inhibitory control and working memory performance were associated with enhanced cortical inhibition. The findings provide indirect preliminary evidence for the assumption that changes in cortical excitability induced by aerobic exercise partially contribute to improvements in executive function in adolescents with ADHD.

Acute aerobic exercise at different intensities modulates inhibitory control and cortical excitability in adults with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate the effects of different aerobic exercise intensities on inhibitory control and cortical excitability in adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). METHODS: The study was conducted in a within-subject design. Twenty-four adults with ADHD completed a stop signal task and received cortical excitability assessment by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) before and after a single session of low-, moderate-, high-intensity aerobic exercise or a control intervention. RESULTS: Acute moderate-, and high-intensity aerobic exercise improved inhibitory control in adults with ADHD. Moreover, the improving effect was similar between moderate-, and high-intensity aerobic exercise conditions. As shown by the brain physiology results, short interval intracortical inhibition was significantly increased following both, moderate- and high-intensity aerobic exercise intervention conditions. Additionally, the alteration of short interval intracortical inhibition and inhibitory control improvement were positively correlated. CONCLUSIONS: The moderate-, and high-intensity aerobic exercise-dependent alterations of cortical excitability in adults with ADHD might partially explain the inhibitory control-improving effects of aerobic exercise in this population.

Factors mediating pre-existing autism diagnosis and later suicidal thoughts and behaviors: A follow-up cohort study.

LAY ABSTRACT: Autistic people are more likely to experience suicidal thoughts and behaviors. The underlying relationships between potential risk factors and suicidal thoughts and behaviors in autistic individuals remain unclear. To understand this, we investigated whether specific factors in childhood/youth explain the effects of pre-existing autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnoses on later suicidal thoughts and behaviors in adolescence/adulthood. We assessed internalizing and externalizing problems, bullying experiences, and executive functions (including cognitive flexibility, sustained attention, and spatial working memory) at an average baseline age of 13.4 years and suicidal thoughts and behaviors at an average follow-up age of 19.2 years among 129 autistic and 121 typically developing (TD) individuals. During the follow-up period in adolescence/adulthood, autistic individuals were more likely to report suicidal thoughts than TD individuals. Being bullied partially accounted for the relationship between a pre-existing ASD diagnosis and later-reported higher suicidal thoughts. Contrary to our hypothesis, higher (instead of lower) cognitive flexibility in some autistic young people appeared to partially explain their higher rates of suicidal thoughts compared with typically developing young people. The findings imply that school bullying prevention and tailored intervention programs for autistic people, especially those with higher cognitive flexibility, are warranted to reduce their risks of experiencing suicidal thoughts.

Distinct developmental changes in regional gray matter volume and covariance in individuals with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: A longitudinal voxel-based morphometry study.

BACKGROUND: Very few studies have investigated longitudinal clinical cohorts of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Moreover, how baseline brain changes could affect the development of ADHD symptoms later in life remains elusive. Therefore, we aimed to fill this gap by exploring brain and clinical changes in youth with ADHD using a longitudinal design. METHODS: This prospective study consisted of 74 children and adolescents with ADHD and 50 age-, sex-, intelligence-matched typically developing controls (TDC), evaluated at baseline (aged 7-19 years) and re-evaluated 5.3 years later (a mean follow-up latency). We applied voxel-based morphometry to characterize brain structures, followed by both mass-univariate and multivariate structural covariance statistics to identify brain regions with significant diagnosis-by-time interactions from late childhood/adolescence to early adulthood. We used the cross-lagged panel model to investigate the longitudinal association between structural brain metrics and core ADHD symptoms. RESULTS: The mass-univariate statistic revealed significant diagnosis-by-time interactions in the right striatum and the sixth lobule of the cerebellum. This was expressed by increased striatal and decreased cerebellar volume in ADHD, while TDC showed inverse volume changes over time. The multivariate method showed significant diagnosis-by-time interactions in a structural covariance network consisting of the regions involved in the functional sensory-motor and default-mode networks. Higher baseline right striatal and cerebellar volumes were associated with elevated ADHD symptoms at follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest a temporal association between the divergent development of striatal and cerebellar regions and dynamical ADHD phenotypic expression through young adulthood. These results highlight a potential brain marker of future outcomes.