Children with ADHD symptoms have a higher risk for reading, spelling and math difficulties in the GINIplus and LISAplus cohort studies

Darina Czamara, Carla M T Tiesler, Gabriele Kohlböck, Dietrich Berdel, Barbara Hoffmann, Carl-Peter Bauer, Sibylle Koletzko, Beate Schaaf, Irina Lehmann, Olf Herbarth, Andrea von Berg, Bertram Müller-Myhsok, Gerd Schulte-Körne, Joachim Heinrich, Darina Czamara, Carla M T Tiesler, Gabriele Kohlböck, Dietrich Berdel, Barbara Hoffmann, Carl-Peter Bauer, Sibylle Koletzko, Beate Schaaf, Irina Lehmann, Olf Herbarth, Andrea von Berg, Bertram Müller-Myhsok, Gerd Schulte-Körne, Joachim Heinrich

Abstract

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and dyslexia belong to the most common neuro-behavioral childhood disorders with prevalences of around 5% in school-aged children. It is estimated that 20-60% of individuals affected with ADHD also present with learning disorders. We investigated the comorbidity between ADHD symptoms and reading/spelling and math difficulties in two on-going population-based birth cohort studies. Children with ADHD symptoms were at significantly higher risk of also showing reading/spelling difficulties or disorder (Odds Ratio (OR) = 2.80, p = 6.59×10⁻¹³) as compared to children without ADHD symptoms. For math difficulties the association was similar (OR = 2.55, p = 3.63×10⁻⁰⁴). Our results strengthen the hypothesis that ADHD and learning disorders are comorbid and share, at least partially, the same underlying process. Up to date, it is not clear, on which exact functional processes this comorbidity is based.

Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1. Sensitivity analysis for reading/spelling problems…
Figure 1. Sensitivity analysis for reading/spelling problems and reading/spelling disorder in GINIplus.
ORs and 95% confidence intervals are depicted for reading/spelling problems and reading/spelling disorder in three investigated models (crude, adjusted for gender, age, study and study center and additional adjustment for parental education, age of mother at birth, daily TV/PC use, single parent and ETS exposure). Normal SDQ score was chosen as reference category.
Figure 2. Sensitivity analysis for reading/spelling problems…
Figure 2. Sensitivity analysis for reading/spelling problems and reading/spelling disorder in males from GINIplus.
ORs and 95% confidence intervals are depicted for reading/spelling problems and reading/spelling disorder in three investigated models (crude, adjusted for gender, age, study and study center and additional adjustment for parental education, age of mother at birth, daily TV/PC use, single parent and ETS exposure). Normal SDQ score was chosen as reference category.
Figure 3. Sensitivity analysis for reading/spelling problems…
Figure 3. Sensitivity analysis for reading/spelling problems and reading/spelling disorder in females from GINIplus.
ORs and 95% confidence intervals are depicted for reading/spelling problems and reading/spelling disorder in three investigated models (crude, adjusted for gender, age, study and study center and additional adjustment for parental education, age of mother at birth, daily TV/PC use, single parent and ETS exposure). Normal SDQ score was chosen as reference category.

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Source: PubMed

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