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Psychiatric disorders and behavioral characteristics of pediatric patients with both epilepsy and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Gonzalez-Heydrich J, Dodds A, Whitney J, MacMillan C, Waber D, Faraone SV, Boyer K, Mrakotsky C, DeMaso D, Bourgeois B, Biederman J

Psychopharmacology Program, Children's Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. joseph.gonzalez-heydrich@tch.harvard.edu

OBJECTIVE: Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) coexisting with epilepsy is poorly understood; thus, we compared the clinical correlates and psychiatric comorbid conditions of 36 children with epilepsy and ADHD aged 6 to 17 years enrolled in an ADHD treatment trial, with those reported in the literature on children with ADHD without epilepsy. METHODS: Measures included the Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children (KSADS), the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI), and the Scales for Independent Behavior-Revised (SIB-R). RESULTS: Mean IQ was 86+/-19, and SIB-R Standard Score was 72+/-26. The ADHD-Combined subtype, composed of both inattentive and hyperactive symptoms, was most frequent (58%). Sixty-one percent exhibited a comorbid disorder, including anxiety disorders (36%) and oppositional defiant disorder (31%). CONCLUSIONS: Comorbidity in ADHD with epilepsy is similar to that in ADHD without epilepsy reported in the literature. These preliminary data argue that the pathophysiology of ADHD has common components in both populations.

Published 23 April 2007 in Epilepsy Behav, 10(3): 384-8.
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