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Background: This study used functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to investigate brain activation patterns in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) with and without additional comorbidities to identify disease-related biomarkers by the neuroimaging that will facilitate to make a diagnosis decision.
Methods: In this study, 165 medication-naive children aged 7 to 15 years were recruited and categorized into four groups: ADHD, ADHD with learning disabilities (ADHD&LD), ADHD with oppositional defiant disorder (ADHD&ODD), and healthy controls. A multichannel fNIRS system was used to monitor hemodynamic changes at rest state in the prefrontal and temporal lobes of the brain. The amplitude of a low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) matrix was calculated by summation and averaging of the square root of the signal power spectrum. One-way analysis of variance was used to identify statistical differences between channels.
Results: All ADHD children presented significantly higher ALFF values in different brain regions when compared with the healthy controls. Patients with ADHD&LD exhibited higher ALFF values in the medial prefrontal cortex (PCh38=.01, PCh48=.01), temporal cortex (PCh22=.04, PCh41=.002, PCh51=.001), and the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (PCh39=.0009, PCh50=.001), whereas ADHD&ODD children were not significantly different to those diagnosed with ADHD.
Conclusions: ADHD with learning disabilities (LD) possessed a different pathogenesis from ADHD, manifested as lower functional brain activity in the medial prefrontal cortex, temporal cortex, and the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, while ADHD&ODD did not present significant changes compared with ADHD. ODD-related symptoms may be part of ADHD symptoms rather than being an independent disorder.
Cite this article as: Liao W, Li H, Liu Q, et al. Comparison of brain function between medication-naïve ADHD with and without comorbidity in Chinese children using resting-state. Alpha Psychiatry. 2024;25(4):485-492.