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J Biederman

Publications and source records attributed to J Biederman.

At least 199 records · Page 11Linked to original sources

The relationship between tic disorders and Tourette's syndrome revisited.

OBJECTIVE: The relationship between Tourette's syndrome (TS) and chronic tic disorder is of great clinical and scientific importance because of uncertainties in both prognosis and pharmacotherapeutic strategies. One approach to evaluating the relationship between TS and chronic tics is to examine whether they share similar neuropsychological and psychiatric correlates. METHOD: Children with TS (n = 32) and children with chronic tics (n = 39) were ascertained from an unselected sample of the children referred for psychopharmacological treatment and examined using standardized diagnostic assessments and testing procedures. RESULTS: Children with TS and those with chronic tics were similar to each other and different from controls in clinical correlates that included psychiatric comorbidity, as well as school, neuropsychological, and psychosocial impairments. Patients with TS also had higher rates of obsessive-compulsive disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, and simple phobia than did patients with chronic tic disorder. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that TS and chronic tic disorder are part of the same disease entity, with TS being a more severe form of tic disorder.

Achievement↗

Impact of adversity on functioning and comorbidity in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

OBJECTIVE: Prior research on risk factors for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has shown that familial risk factors play a role in the disorder's etiology. This study investigated whether features of the family environment were associated with ADHD. METHOD: One hundred forty children with ADHD and 120 normal control probands were studied. Subjects were Caucasian, non-Hispanic males between the ages of 6 and 17 years. Exposure to parental psychopathology and exposure to parental conflict were used as indicators of adversity, and their impact on ADHD and ADHD-related psychopathology and dysfunction in children was assessed. RESULTS: Increased levels of environmental adversity were found among ADHD compared with control probands. The analyses showed significant associations between the index of parental conflict and several of the measures of psychopathology and psychosocial functioning in the children. In contrast, the index of exposure to parental psychopathology had a much narrower impact, affecting primarily the child's use of leisure time and externalizing symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: A relationship appears to exist between adversity indicators and the risk for ADHD as well as for its associated impairments in multiple domains. These findings confirm previous work and stress the importance of adverse family-environment variables as risk factors for children who have ADHD.

Achievement↗

A pilot family study of childhood-onset mania.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the familial association of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and bipolar disorder (BPD) among the first-degree relatives of children with comorbid ADHD and BPD. BACKGROUND: In contrast to a growing body of literature on childhood non-bipolar depression, little is known about childhood BPD. Among the explanations accounting for the lack of recognition and identification of these children is the symptomatic overlap of BPD with ADHD. Family-genetic studies provide information external to the clinical picture and thus are uniquely suited to clarify such issues of diagnostic comorbidity. METHOD: Structured diagnostic interviews were used to obtain DSM-III-R psychiatric diagnoses on first-degree relatives (n = 46) of referred children (aged < or = 12 years) satisfying diagnostic criteria for mania using the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children-Epidemiologic Version (n = 16). For comparison, diagnostic information on the first-degree relatives of non-bipolar ADHD children and control children was examined. RESULTS: The results show high rates of comorbidity between BPD and ADHD in children and high rates of both BPD and ADHD in the first-degree relatives of these children. Moreover, ADHD and BPD cosegregated among the relatives of children with BPD. CONCLUSIONS: These findings, which are consistent with the authors' prior study of children with ADHD, provide family-genetic evidence for the validity of BPD and ADHD when they exist comorbidly in children. Moreover, they suggest that the comorbid condition of ADHD+BPD may be a distinct nosological entity.

Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity↗

Pharmacotherapy of adult attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a review.

Adult attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is an increasingly recognized disorder with associated psychiatric comorbidity and impairment. Although pharmacotherapy serves an important role in treating ADHD and other concurrent psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents, the use of pharmacotherapeutics for adults with ADHD remains less established. In this report, the effectiveness and dosing parameters of the various agents investigated for adult ADHD are reviewed. A systematic review of the available literature identified 7 studies (N = 193 subjects) of psychostimulants and 10 studies of nonstimulant medications (N = 167 subjects) including antidepressants, antihypertensives, and amino acids for the treatment of ADHD in adults. The majority of double-blind investigations were with the psychostimulants, with the nonstimulant agents, generally antidepressants, studied under open conditions. There was considerable variability in diagnostic criteria, dosing parameters, and response rates between the various studies. Under controlled conditions, the aggregate literature shows that the stimulants had a clinically and statistically significant effect on reducing ADHD symptoms. Open studies on the nonserotonergic antidepressants (tricyclics, bupropion, and monoamine oxidase inhibitors) also show a moderate anti-ADHD effect. The literature appears to support the use of robust doses of both stimulants and antidepressants for ADHD in adults. Further controlled studies applying stringent diagnostic criteria and outcome methodology are necessary to define the range of pharmacotherapeutic options for adults with ADHD.

Adult↗

Clinical correlates of enuresis in ADHD and non-ADHD children.

Enuresis and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are common childhood disorders that often co-occur. Although each has been linked to neurodevelopmental immaturity and increased risk for psychopathology, the clinical correlates of enuresis remain unclear. Subjects were 140 6-17-year-old boys with DSM-III-R ADHD and 120 non-ADHD controls. Information on enuresis and psychiatric diagnoses was obtained in a standardized manner blind to the child's clinical status. Our results show that (1) enuresis did not increase the risk for psychopathology in children with or without ADHD; (2) enuresis was not associated with psychosocial adversity or developmental immaturity; (3) enuresis was associated with increased risk for learning disability, impaired intellectual functioning, and impaired school achievement in normal control children but not in children with ADHD; and (4) the same pattern of findings was obtained after stratifying children with enuresis by primary versus secondary and by nocturnal versus diurnal subtypes. These results suggest that the clinical implications of enuresis may differ for ADHD and non-ADHD children.

Adolescent↗

ADHD and thyroid abnormalities: a research note.

Contradictory findings have been reported on associations between ADHD and thyroid abnormalities including the syndrome of generalized resistance to thyroid hormone. We systematically reviewed thyroid function in a large group of children and adolescents with ADHD (N = 132). We failed to find evidence of generalized resistance to thyroid hormone. Although mild laboratory abnormalities in thyroid function were observed in a minority of ADHD subjects, they were not different than rates reported in the literature for normal children.

Adolescent↗

Performance of children with ADHD on the Rey-Osterrieth complex figure: a pilot neuropsychological study.

This study evaluates the performance of boys with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) on the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure (ROCF) taking into consideration familiality and comorbid psychiatric and learning disorders (LD). Sixty-five children with ADHD performed at developmentally lower levels of Copy Organization and Recall Style than did 45 controls. ADHD children with LD scored significantly lower on Copy Organization than did ADHD children without LD, whereas psychiatric comorbidity and familiality had no effect. These results suggest that a developmental analysis of the ROCF identifies organizational difficulties associated with ADHD and that these impairments cannot simply be attributed to comorbidities associated with ADHD.

Adolescent↗

Psychoactive substance use disorders in adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): effects of ADHD and psychiatric comorbidity.

OBJECTIVE: The authors evaluated the association between attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and psychoactive substance use disorders in adults with ADHD, attending to comorbidity with mood, anxiety, and antisocial disorders. It was hypothesized that psychiatric comorbidity would be a risk factor for psychoactive substance use disorders. METHOD: Findings for 120 referred adults with a clinical diagnosis of childhood-onset ADHD were compared with those for non-ADHD adult comparison subjects (N = 268). All childhood and adult diagnoses were obtained by structured psychiatric interviews for DSM-III-R. RESULTS: There was a significantly higher lifetime risk for psychoactive substance use disorders in the ADHD adults than in the comparison subjects (52% versus 27%). Although the two groups did not differ in the rate of alcohol use disorders, the ADHD adults had significantly higher rates of drug and drug plus alcohol use disorders than the comparison subjects. ADHD significantly increased the risk for substance use disorders independently of psychiatric comorbidity. Antisocial disorders significantly increased the risk for substance use disorders independently of ADHD status. Mood and anxiety disorders increased the risk for substance use disorders in both the ADHD and comparison subjects, but more demonstrably in the comparison subjects. CONCLUSIONS: Although psychiatric comorbidity increased the risk for psychoactive substance use disorders in adults with ADHD, by itself ADHD was a significant risk factor for substance use disorders. More information is needed to further delineate risk and protective factors mediating the development of substance use disorders in persons with ADHD.

Adult↗

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and comorbid disorders: issues of overlapping symptoms.

OBJECTIVE: Since some symptoms are shared by both attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and comorbid psychiatric conditions, it is possible that a diagnosis of ADHD is an artifact of the overlapping symptoms. This article focuses on the assessment of the influence of overlapping symptoms on the diagnosis of ADHD. METHOD: Three groups of subjects were studied: a group of clinically referred children and adolescents, a group of nonreferred adults who were the parents of these children and adolescents, and a group of clinically referred adults with ADHD. The authors assessed the extent of symptom overlap between ADHD and the disorders that frequently co-occur with ADHD; major depression, bipolar disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder. To determine the degree to which this symptom overlap influences these diagnoses, each individual was rediagnosed on the basis of two different techniques that corrected for the overlapping symptoms, a subtraction method and a proportion method. RESULTS: The majority of subjects who had both ADHD and a comorbid psychiatric disorder maintained their diagnosis of ADHD when the overlapping symptoms were subtracted. Moreover, when overlapping ADHD symptoms were subtracted, on average, 79% maintained their diagnosis of major depression, 56% maintained their diagnosis of bipolar disorder, and 75% maintained their diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder. CONCLUSIONS: These findings show that ADHD is not an artifact of symptoms shared with other psychiatric disorders and that the comorbid conditions themselves are not an artifact of overlapping ADHD symptoms.

Adolescent↗

High risk for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder among children of parents with childhood onset of the disorder: a pilot study.

OBJECTIVE: Although well-documented in clinical and epidemiological studies of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children, the familial nature of the adult syndrome has not been well investigated. One approach to evaluate the familial nature of adult ADHD is through a high-risk design aimed at estimating the risk for the disorder in children of parents with child-hood-onset ADHD. METHOD: Children at risk for ADHD were ascertained from the study group of 84 referred adults with clinical diagnoses of childhood onset of the disorder, confirmed by structured interviews. Diagnostic information on the disorder was derived from the ADHD module of the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School Age Children--Epidemiologic Version, supplemented with information regarding treatment for ADHD for the affected child and school history including repeated grades, placement in special classes, and tutoring. RESULTS: Of the 84 children at risk, 48 (57%) met criteria for ADHD. The rate of the disorder in children of adults with the disorder was significantly higher than the previously reported rate of ADHD among siblings of children with the disorder. Of the 48 ADHD children of parents with the disorder, 36 (75%) were treated for it. The rates of school failure were almost identical to those previously reported in a group of referred children and adolescents with ADHD. CONCLUSIONS: These results support the validity of the adult diagnosis of ADHD and suggest that the adult form of this disorder may have stronger familial etiological risk factors than its pediatric form. If these results are confirmed, families selected through adult probands with ADHD might be especially useful for testing genetic hypotheses about the disorder.

Achievement↗

Childhood mania revisited.

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Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity↗

CBCL clinical scales discriminate prepubertal children with structured interview-derived diagnosis of mania from those with ADHD.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the discriminative ability of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) to identify children with structured interview-derived diagnosis of bipolar disorder. METHOD: We evaluated the convergence of CBCL scales with the diagnosis of mania in 31 children with mania, 120 children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and 77 prepubertal normal control children aged 12 years or younger. We evaluated the strength of association between each CBCL scale and structured interview-derived diagnoses with total predictive value and the odds ratio. RESULTS: Excellent convergence was found between the CBCL scales of Delinquent Behavior, Aggressive Behavior, Somatic Complaints, Anxious/Depressed, and Thought Problems and the diagnosis of mania. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that the CBCL could serve as a rapid and useful screening instrument to identify manic children in clinical settings.

Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity↗

Estimation of the association between desipramine and the risk for sudden death in 5- to 14-year-old children.

BACKGROUND: Four cases of sudden death in children 12 years or younger during desipramine treatment were identified between 1986 and 1992. We evaluated whether these events support the hypothesis that exposure to therapeutic doses of desipramine contributes to the risk for sudden death in otherwise healthy children. METHOD: The National Center for Health Statistics provided the baseline number of sudden unexplained deaths in children 5 to 14 years old. Data from the National Disease and Therapeutic Index were used to estimate the exposure to desipramine in children in the same age group. Since two of the four deaths were identified by 1987, we used the post-1987 experience as if it were a prospective period in which a causal association could be examined. RESULTS: The number of sudden deaths in desipramine-exposed children did not increase from 1986 to 1992 despite a marked increase in exposure. By using 4 to 6 months as the average lifetime of a desipramine prescription and a baseline rate of sudden death of 4.2 deaths/million/year in this population, the post-1987 period would account for 162,000 to 242,000 person-years of desipramine exposure. Although not statistically significant, this level of exposure corresponds to a relative risk of 2.1 (95% CI = 0.5 to 15) to 3.1 (95% CI = 0.8 to 22). CONCLUSION: Although, based on our estimates, the evidence for an association between desipramine and sudden death in children aged 5 to 14 years appears weak, replication of our findings is needed with a more precise numerator (total number of deaths) and denominator (the appropriate conversion from drug appearance to actual exposure) before a firm conclusion on this subject can be drawn. Until then, even if remote, the possibility of an association between desipramine and sudden death in children stresses the importance of assessing risks and benefits when desipramine is used in pediatric patients.

Adolescent↗

Anxiety disorders of childhood, Implications for adult psychopathology.

Although the exact path of acquisition remains incompletely understood, research supports the association between anxiety disorders in children and psychopathologic conditions in adults. This article addresses this relationship; reviews findings on the temperamental profile and behavioral inhibition, which may be an early identifiable childhood predictor of later anxiety disorders; and discusses the importance of early intervention.

Adolescent↗