Association of Preterm Birth With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder-Like and Wider-Ranging Neurophysiological Impairments of Attention and Inhibition

Anna-Sophie Rommel; Sarah-Naomi James; Gráinne McLoughlin; Daniel Brandeis; Tobias Banaschewski; Philip Asherson; Jonna Kuntsi

doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2016.10.006

Association of Preterm Birth With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder-Like and Wider-Ranging Neurophysiological Impairments of Attention and Inhibition

J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2017 Jan;56(1):40-50. doi: 10.1016/j.jaac.2016.10.006. Epub 2016 Oct 24.

Authors

Anna-Sophie Rommel¹, Sarah-Naomi James¹, Gráinne McLoughlin¹, Daniel Brandeis², Tobias Banaschewski³, Philip Asherson¹, Jonna Kuntsi⁴

Affiliations

¹ Medical Research Council Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
² Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim/Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany; Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; the Center for Integrative Human Physiology, University of Zurich, and the Neuroscience Center Zurich, University of Zurich.
³ Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim/Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany.
⁴ Medical Research Council Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK. Electronic address: jonna.kuntsi@kcl.ac.uk.

Abstract

Objective: Preterm birth has been associated with an increased risk of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)-like symptoms and cognitive impairments similar to those seen in ADHD, including attention and inhibitory control difficulties. Yet data on direct comparisons across ADHD and preterm birth on cognitive-neurophysiological measures are limited.

Method: We directly compared 186 preterm-born adolescents to 69 term-born adolescents with ADHD and 135 term-born controls on cognitive-performance and event-related potential measures associated with attentional and inhibitory processing from a cued continuous performance test (CPT-OX), which we have previously shown to discriminate between the adolescents with ADHD and controls. We aimed to elucidate whether the ADHD-like symptoms and cognitive impairments in preterm-born individuals reflect identical cognitive-neurophysiological impairments in term-born individuals with ADHD.

Results: Go-P3 amplitude was reduced, reflecting impaired executive response control, in preterm-born adolescents compared to both controls and adolescents with ADHD. Moreover, in preterm-born adolescents, as in term-born adolescents with ADHD, contingent negative variation amplitude was attenuated, reflecting impairments in response preparation compared to controls. Although the ADHD group showed significantly increased NoGo-P3 amplitude at FCz compared to preterm group, at Cz preterm-born adolescents demonstrated significantly decreased NoGo-P3 amplitude compared to the control group, similar to term-born adolescents with ADHD.

Conclusion: These findings indicate impairments in response preparation, executive response control, and response inhibition in preterm-born adolescents. Although the response preparation and response inhibition impairments found in preterm-born adolescents overlap with those found in term-born adolescents with ADHD, the preterm group also shows unique impairments, suggesting more wide-ranging impairments in the preterm group compared to the ADHD group.

Keywords: ADHD; EEG; event-related potential; neurocognitive impairment; preterm birth.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / physiopathology*
Cognitive Dysfunction / physiopathology*
Evoked Potentials / physiology*
Executive Function / physiology*
Female
Humans
Infant, Premature / physiology*
Inhibition, Psychological*
Male
Psychomotor Performance / physiology*
Young Adult

Abstract

MeSH terms

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