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The Motor Function Neurological Assessment (MFNU) as an indicator of motor function problems in boys with ADHD
Liv Larsen Stray1, Torstein Stray, Synnøve Iversen
1Department of Child and Adolescent Health, Sørlandet Hospital, Norway. liv.l.stray@sshf.no.
Insights
The Motor Function Neurological Assessment (MFNU) effectively identifies motor problems in children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). This tool shows significant differences between boys with ADHD and healthy controls, highlighting ADHD-specific motor challenges.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Neurology
- Child Psychology
- Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Background:
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is frequently associated with motor function deficits.
- Hyperkinetic Disorder (HKD), corresponding to ADHD-combined in DSM-IV, presents specific motor challenges in children.
- The Motor Function Neurological Assessment (MFNU) was developed to identify these motor issues.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the MFNU's ability to differentiate between boys with ADHD (HKD) and typically developing controls.
- To assess the prevalence and severity of motor function problems in children diagnosed with HKD.
- To determine if the MFNU can identify a common underlying factor in motor deficits associated with ADHD.
Main Methods:
- A cohort of 25 drug-naïve boys (8-12 years) diagnosed with HKD (F.90.0) was compared to 27 age-matched healthy controls.
- Participants were assessed using 17 subtests of the MFNU and a 'Total score' parameter.
- The study focused on identifying differences in motor function between the ADHD and control groups.
Main Results:
- The ADHD group exhibited significantly higher rates of moderate to severe motor problems across all MFNU subtests compared to controls (median 88% vs. 14.8%).
- Severe motor problems were substantially more prevalent in the ADHD group (median 64%) than in the control group (median 0%).
- The MFNU demonstrated high discriminative power, with significant differences observed on all subtests and the Total score, suggesting a common underlying motor factor in ADHD.
Conclusions:
- The MFNU reliably identifies a consistent pattern of motor function problems in children with HKD.
- These motor deficits are infrequently observed in individuals without ADHD, supporting the MFNU's specificity.
- Further research is warranted to ascertain the MFNU's capacity to distinguish ADHD-specific motor problems from those common in other conditions like Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD).
Background:
The paper presents the Motor Function Neurological Assessment (MFNU), as a tool for identifying typical motor function problems in children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The study investigated motor functions in boys diagnosed with Hyperkinetic Disorder (HKD, F.90.0). HKD corresponds to the ADHD-combined (ADHD-C) diagnosis in the DSM-IV. The paper addresses the ability of the instrument to discriminate between non-medicated boys with HKD and a control group consisting of normal non-referred boys without any clinical significant ADHD symptoms.
Methods:
25 drug-naïve boys, aged 8-12 years and recently diagnosed as HKD F90.0, were compared with 27 controls, all boys in the same age range, on 17 MFNU subtests, and with a 'Total score' parameter.
Results:
On the individual subtests 80-96% (median 88%) of the ADHD group showed 'moderate' to 'severe' problems, compared to 0-44% (median 14.8%) within the control group. The percentage of 'severe problems' ranged from 44-84%, (median 64%) in the ADHD group, and 0-44% (median 0%) in the control group. The highly significant differences found between the groups on all subtests, and on the Total score scores, indicated that the MFNU had a high discriminative power when children with ADHD and normal controls were compared. The Total score parameter seemed to be a meaningful discriminator of a common underlying factor of the 17 subtests used in the study.
Conclusion:
The study confirms our clinical findings that the MFNU measures a consistent pattern of motor function problems in children with HKD, and that these problems are rarely represented in individuals without ADHD. Further research is needed to investigate to what extent the MFNU taps motor problems that are truly specific to ADHD, in contrast to motor problems common to children with DCD or other clinical problems.
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