Brain morphological changes across behaviour spectrums in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Area of Science:

• Neuroimaging
• Developmental Neuroscience
• Psychiatry

Background:

• Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by behavioral symptoms and alterations in grey matter volume (GMV).
• Previous research has not fully clarified the progressive and causal relationships between GMV changes and behavioral manifestations in ADHD.
• Understanding these relationships is crucial for developing effective diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the causal relationship between grey matter volume (GMV) alterations and behavioral symptoms in children and adolescents with ADHD.
• To explore progressive patterns of GMV changes using behavior-causal structural covariance network (BCaSCN) analysis.
• To identify distinct neuroanatomical subtypes of ADHD based on GMV patterns.

Main Methods:

• Structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI) data from 135 children/adolescents with ADHD and 182 neurotypical controls (NCs).
• Neuroanatomical subtyping of ADHD using a clustering algorithm based on GMV.
• Region-of-interest-based BCaSCN analysis on pseudo-time series data derived from ADHD, inattentive, and hyperactive/impulsive index values.

Main Results:

• Two distinct ADHD subtypes were identified based on neuroanatomical differences compared to NCs.
• ADHD subtype 1 showed associations with inattentiveness, with key nodes in frontal regions and the cerebellum.
• ADHD subtype 2 was linked to overall disease severity, with the cerebellum and hippocampus as primary hubs.

Conclusions:

• ADHD exhibits heterogeneous GMV changes that correlate with specific behavioral domains.
• The findings underscore the necessity for subtype-specific diagnostic approaches and therapeutic interventions in ADHD.
• Targeting distinct neuroanatomical patterns may improve treatment efficacy for ADHD.