Novel method using Hjorth mobility analysis for diagnosing attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in girls

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common childhood neuropsychiatric disorder. Diagnosis of ADHD is based on core symptoms or checklists; however, practitioner subjectivity inevitably results in instances of over- or under-diagnosis. Although an elevated theta/beta ratio (TBR) of the electroencephalography (EEG) band has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a factor that may be used in diagnosis of ADHD, several studies have reported no significant differences between the TBR of patients with ADHD and controls.

In this study, a method was developed based on Hjorth Mobility (M) analysis of EEG to compare patients with ADHD and controls.

Differences in the presentations of ADHD between boys and girls are well established; therefore, separate investigations are required. The present study enrolled 30 girls with ADHD and 30 age-matched controls.

The results revealed that the control group had significantly higher Hjorth M values in most brain areas in EEG readings compared with the values for the ADHD group. Compared with TBR, our method revealed a greater number of more significant differences between the girls in the ADHD group and the controls. Moreover, our method can produce the higher average sensitivity (0.796), average specificity (0.796), average accuracy (0.792), and average area under the curve of receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) value (0.885). Therefore, compared with TBR, Hjorth M possessed the better potential for differentiating between girls with ADHD and controls.

The proposed method was more accurate than the TBR in diagnosing ADHD. Therefore, Hjorth M may be a promising tool for differentiating between children with ADHD and controls.