Scientific Papers - August 2022

In the month of August, the WFADHD is delighted to highlight the following four papers:

The study by Leffa et al. aimed to determine the efficacy and safety of home-based transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in treating inattention symptoms in adult patients with ADHD not taking stimulant medication. Sixty-four participants were enrolled in a randomized, double-blind, parallel, sham-controlled clinical trial that was conducted in a single-center outpatient academic setting. It was shown that 30min daily sessions of home-based tDCS decreased inattention over 4 weeks.

The second article by Havdahl et al. assessed in a Norwegian cohort study whether pregnancy-related predisposing factors for offspring neurodevelopmental conditions are associated with maternal genetic liability for ADHD, autism, and schizophrenia. Furthermore, associations for maternal genetic liability with those for paternal genetic liability were compared. It was shown that genetic liability to neurodevelopmental conditions that is passed from mothers to children is associated with several pregnancy-related factors and may therefore confound associations between these factors and offspring neurodevelopment that have previously been thought to be causal.

The paper from Lorenzi et al. validated in independent external samples from developed countries a previously developed multivariable demographic model for ADHD. The results indicate that the originally developed ADHD predictive model is suitable for use in different settings for clinical and research purposes. It outperformed single variable models using only prematurity, family history, or the ADHD polygenic risk score for ADHD.

The fourth paper from Thapar is a practitioner review on ADHD and autism disorder, which show high rates of mental health problems, of which depression in one of the most common. An overview of the latest findings on the presentation, assessment, and treatment of depression in these neurodevelopmental disorders is given including possible mechanisms underlying the link between ADHD, autism spectrum disorder and depression. In addition, recommendations for critical future research are discussed.