Retinal Thinning in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): Structural Changes Detected by Spectral-Domain...

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Neuroscience
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder.
• The retina, being an extension of the central nervous system, may offer insights into ADHD pathophysiology.
• Retinal imaging techniques like optical coherence tomography (OCT) can detect structural changes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate structural retinal alterations in ADHD patients compared to neurotypical controls using OCT.
• To evaluate macular and optic nerve head parameters in individuals with and without ADHD.

Main Methods:

• A case-control study involving 50 ADHD patients and 50 controls (200 eyes total).
• Comparison of macular region thicknesses (total, inner, outer retinal layers, GCIPL, mRNFL), peripapillary RNFL (pRNFL), and optic nerve head (ONH) parameters.
• Analysis of right and left eyes separately, with ROC analysis for diagnostic performance.

Main Results:

• ADHD patients exhibited significantly reduced total and outer retinal thickness in multiple macular sectors in both eyes.
• No significant differences were found in mRNFL, GCIPL, inner retina, pRNFL, or ONH parameters between the groups.
• Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis indicated moderate diagnostic performance for macular total and outer retinal thickness.

Conclusions:

• ADHD is associated with macular retinal thinning (total and outer layers) in both eyes.
• OCT-based retinal biomarkers show potential for aiding in ADHD diagnosis and understanding its pathophysiology.
• Further research may explore the clinical utility of these OCT findings in ADHD management.