This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.

Cross-network interactions associated with attention weaker in children with ADHD

Cross-network interactions in the salience, central executive and default mode networks were significantly lower among children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and linked to inattention symptoms, according to recent findings.

“A lot of things may be happening in one’s environment, but only some grab our attention,” study researcher Vinod Menon, PhD, of Stanford University, said in a press release. “The salience network helps us stop daydreaming or thinking about something that happened yesterday so we can focus on the task at hand. We found that this network’s ability to regulate interactions with other brain systems is weaker in kids with ADHD.”

Researchers conducted functional MRI analysis among 180 children, half of whom had ADHD, while they were awake but resting. Study data were obtained from the ADHD-200 Consortium and included independent data sets from three different sites in New York City, Beijing and Portland, Oregon. Group differences in resource allocation index and associations between resource allocation index and ADHD symptoms were assessed.

Resource allocation index was significantly lower among children with ADHD compared with controls, according to researchers.

Inattention symptoms were negatively associated with salience network-centered resource allocation index across all data sets, despite the use of different questionnaires at each site (P < .001).

“It would be very beneficial to have a diagnostic measure that uses more objective and reliable measures, not just clinical and parental assessments of behavior,” study researcher Weidong Cai, PhD, of Stanford University, said in the release. “This study also demonstrates that we can develop a very robust biomarker based on functional neuroimaging to reliably differentiate children with ADHD from other kids.” – by Amanda Oldt

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.