Associated Features Supporting Diagnosis (ADHD)
Associated Features Supporting Diagnosis (ADHD)
Mild delays in language, motor, or social development are not specific to ADHD but often co-occur. Associated features may include low frustration tolerance, irritability, or mood lability. Even in the absence of a specific learning disorder, academic or work performance is often impaired. Inattentive behavior is associated with various underlying cognitive processes, and individuals with ADHD may exhibit cognitive problems on tests of attention, executive function, or memory, although these tests are not sufficiently sensitive or specific to serve as diagnostic indices. By early adulthood, ADHD is associated with an increased risk of suicide attempt, primarily when comorbid with mood, conduct, or substance use disorders(Agosti et al. 2011).
No biological marker is diagnostic for ADHD. As a group, compared with peers, children with ADHD display increased slow wave electroencephalograms(Barry et al. 2003), reduced total brain volume on magnetic resonance imaging(Castellanos et al. 2002), and possibly a delay in posterior to anterior cortical maturation(Shaw et al. 2007), but these findings are not diagnostic. In the uncommon cases where there is a known genetic cause (e.g., fragile X syndrome, 22q11 deletion syndrome), the ADHD presentation should still be diagnosed.
