Spectrum of co-morbidities and psychopathology in children with Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): A retrospective study

Objective: To correlate the diversity in co-morbidities and psychopathology in children with ADHD Method- This is a retrospective study of ADHD children presenting to a tertiary care center in northern India between October 2017 and March 2022 were analyzed using Stata v.15 software, Spearman and Pearson correlation was used for nonparametricevaluation. DSM V criteria, AIIMS-INDT tool, CONNER’s teacher’srating scale, Mallin’s Intelligence Scale for Indian Children (MISIC), Childhood Behavior Check List (CBCL)were utilized for diagnosing and evaluating these children. Results: The data was analyzed for 131 patients, intelligence quotient was >70 [(118male (90.08%), 13 female (9.92%), mean age9.48 years]. The most shared presentation was of the combined (inattentivehyperactive-impulsive) (91/131), followed by predominantly inattentive (29/131) and predominantly hyperactive-impulsive (11/131).The psychometric parameters (learning problems, executive functioning and peer relation)in CONNER’s scale was found significant (p<0.001). Co-morbidities were found in 35.1% patients; most common being specific learning disability (SLD)(29/46) followed by aggression (4/46). Conduct disorder and Tourette syndrome were predominant in (3/46), Oppositional Defiant Disorder and seizurewere the least (1/46) . Conclusion- This study suggests that the spectrum of comorbidities in the children with ADHD is diverse. The most common co-morbidity observed was SLD in 63 % children. SLD was most common with combined presentation in both females and males. Four patients had multiple co-morbidities with ADHD presentation.
Keywords: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, comorbidity, Psychometric parameter