Comparison of mothers of children with attention deficit heyperacitivity disorder and mothers of healthy children in terms of axis i psychopathology, adult attention deficit hyperacitivy and cognitive endophenotypes

Attention Deficit Hyperacitivity Disorder (ADHD) is a highly heritable, neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by symptoms of inattentiveness, hyperactivity and impulsivity which start during early childhood and continue to adulthood causing psychological, social, academic and professional problems in every period of life. Adult ADHD is found in 10-35 % of parents of children with ADHD, and besides adult ADHD there is also an increased risk of anxiety and depressive disorders in parents of children with ADHD compared to healthy controls. The basic problem in ADHD is impairment in fronto-striatal network and a lot of studies in the literatüre have shown a neuropsychological impairment in especially attention and executive functions in individuals with ADHD. But, there are a few studies examining the neuropsychological function in parents of children with ADHD which could represent an endophenotypic feature. The aim of this study is to compare biological mothers of children with ADHD and mothers of healthy children in terms of adult ADHD, axis I psychopathology and cognitive endophenotypes in order to prove that neuropsychological impairment is part of genetic liablity to ADHD. 30 mother of children with ADHD and 30 mother of healthy children were enrolled in the study. The sociodemographic data of the participants were collected with a questionnaire and axis I psychopathology was evaluated with SCID-I semi-structured interview, depression, anxiety and functioning levels were evaluated with Hamilton Depression, Hamilton Anxiety, Hospital Depression and Anxiety scales, Global Functioning scale and Clinical Global Impression scale. Adult ADHD screening of the participants were done by the investigator both according to DSM-IV criteria and by the sef-rated Attila Turgay Adult ADHD sacele and Wender Utah Rating scale.Cognitive functions like attention, memory and executive functions were evaluated with Stroop test, Cancellation test, Rey Auditory Verbal Learning test and Winsconsin Card Sorting test. Data was analyzed with SPSS 17 programme in three steps. In the first step, mothers with depression were included in the analysis but, in the second step these mothers were excluded from the analysis and in the third step non-depressed mothers with and without adult ADHD were compared. xix The main findings of the study were an increased level of present and past axis I psychopathology, most of which were depressive and anxiety disorders, in mothers of children with ADHD compared to mothers of healthy children and in the analysis where depressed mothers were excluded an increased ratio of adult ADHD was detected in mothers of children with ADHD compared to mothers of healthy children with a borderline significance, lastly neurpsychological impairment was most evident in adult ADHD positive mothers of children with ADHD, second most impairment was evident in adult ADHD negative mothers of children with ADHD, third most impairment was evident in adult ADHD positive mothers of healthy children and the best neuropsychological performance was evident in adult ADHD negative mothers of healthy children. As a result, the neuropsychological impairments detected in information processing speed, attention, memory, response inhibition and executive function in adult ADHD positive mothers of children with ADHD might be a considered as a specific feature of the syndrome but, neuropsychological impairments detected in adult ADHD negative mothers of children with ADHD might indicate an endophenotypic feature and can show a genetic and neurobiological liability to ADHD.