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Investigating Neurocognitive Functioning in Youths With Externalizing Disorders From the Philadelphia
Philipp Honrath1, Gregor Kohls2, Tyler M Moore3
1Brain Behavior Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Department of Neurology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany; JARA-BRAIN, Jülich-Aachen Research Alliance, Institute of Molecular Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, Aachen, Germany.
Purpose:
Disruptive behavior disorders (DBD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are externalizing disorders that frequently co-occur but also have distinct clinical characteristics. Identifying distinct neurocognitive phenotypes may help optimizing individual diagnosis and treatment of both disorders.
Methods:
Using data from 6,517 children and adolescents from the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort, we investigated diagnostic group (i.e., typically developing, DBD, ADHD, DBD + ADHD) and sex differences across various neurocognitive functions, as well as co-occurring psychiatric symptoms, while adjusting for various confounding factors.
Results:
Neurocognitive deficits were associated with ADHD but not DBD. Co-occurring DBD in both girls and boys with ADHD did not appear to have an additive deteriorating effect on neurocognitive functioning. Task-specific sex differences were observed but did not interact with diagnostic group.
Conclusions:
The findings of this study suggest that neurocognitive deficits in DBD seem to be largely driven by co-occurring ADHD and this applies equally to both sexes.
