Reduced Integrity of White-Matter Tracts in Adolescents with ADHD: A Symptom Specific, Longitudinal Investigation

Poster Session A - Saturday, April 13, 2024, 2:30 – 4:30 pm EDT, Sheraton Hall ABC

Rowan Bhagar^1,2 (rowan.bhagar@slu.edu), Katherine Luking¹; ¹Saint Louis University, ²Indiana University, School of Medicine

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is an executive function disorder characterized by deficits in attention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. ADHD is prominent among children and may cause cognitive and behavioral effects. The pathophysiology of ADHD in adolescents remains unclear due to its heterogeneous symptoms and atypical development. We aim to uncover structural connectivity deficits in adolescents. We utilized the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study to examine white matter tracts in adolescents. ADHD was assessed using caregiver report on the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Demographics and internalizing symptoms were also reported by caregiver, while impulsivity and motivation were self-reported. Cross-sectional analyses were run at baseline (mean age = 9.9) on test and re-test cohorts. Participants were followed for 2 years for longitudinal analyses. 27 white-matter tracts from previous literature were analyzed in a cross-sectional linear mixed-effects model (LMM) resulting in 5 Bonferroni significant tracts in test & re-test cohorts. The symptom-specificity of those 5 were analyzed at baseline and showed the strongest relationship with inattention. A subsequent longitudinal LMM was ran to investigate if changes in ADHD symptoms correspond with changes in structural connectivity. Only 1 tract was nominally significant in the test cohort and did not replicate. However, baseline ADHD symptoms failed to predict longitudinal in structural connectivity, and did not show any sex-specific effects. Here we show a relationship between ADHD symptom severity and structural connectivity in adolescents that can be broken down by symptom. Furthermore, we provide limited evidence for unique developmental trajectories in ADHD, calling for more longitudinal studies.

Topic Area: ATTENTION: Development & aging