Neuropsychological deficits associated with heavy prenatal alcohol exposure are not exacerbated by ADHD.
- Authors
- Glass, Leila; Ware, Ashley L; Crocker, Nicole; Deweese, Benjamin N; Coles, Claire D; Kable, Julie A; May, Philip A; Kalberg, Wendy O; Sowell, Elizabeth R; Jones, Kenneth Lyons; Riley, Edward P; Mattson, Sarah N; Collaborative Initiative on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (CIFASD)
- Year
- 2013
- Journal
- Neuropsychology
- PMID
- 24040921
- DOI
- 10.1037/a0033994
- PMCID
- PMC3898510
OBJECTIVE: Neuropsychological functioning of individuals with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or heavy prenatal alcohol exposure has been well documented independently. This study examined the interaction between both factors on cognitive performance in children. METHOD: As part of a multisite study, 344 children (8-16 y, M = 12.28, SD = 2.52) completed a comprehensive neuropsychological battery. Four subject groups were tested: children with histories of heavy prenatal alcohol exposure (AE) and ADHD (AE+, n = 90), alcohol-exposed without ADHD, (AE-, n = 38), nonexposed with ADHD (ADHD, n = 80), and nonexposed without ADHD (CON, n = 136). RESULTS: Separate 2(AE) × 2(ADHD) MANCOVAs revealed significant main and interactive effects of ADHD and AE on overall WISC-IV, D-KEFS, and CANTAB performance. Individual ANOVAs revealed significant interactions on 2 WISC-IV indices [Verbal Comprehension (VCI), Perceptual Reasoning (PRI)], and four D-KEFS and CANTAB subtests [Design Fluency, Verbal Fluency, Trail Making, Spatial Working Memory]. Follow-up analyses demonstrated no difference between AE+ and AE- groups on these measures. The combined AE+/- group demonstrated more severe impairment than the ADHD group on VCI and PRI, but there were no other differences between clinical groups. CONCLUSIONS: These results support a combined AE+/- group for neuropsychological research and indicate that, in some cases, the neuropsychological effects seen in ADHD are altered by prenatal alcohol exposure. The effects of alcohol exposure on verbal comprehension and perceptual reasoning were greater than those related to having ADHD without alcohol exposure, although both conditions independently resulted in cognitive impairment compared to controls. Clinically, these findings demonstrate task-dependent patterns of impairment across clinical disorders.
Example of neuropsychological subtests with an Alcohol Exposure (AE) × Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder status (ADHD) interaction. Errors bars indicate standard error of the mean. The top panel illustrates the AE × ADHD interaction for WISC-IV Verbal Comprehension Index and the bottom panel illustrates the AE × ADHD interaction for WISC-IV Perceptual Reasoning Index. For both measures, the AE+/− group performed significantly worse than the ADHD group and both clinical groups perform significantly worse than controls. There are four other significant interactions of AE and ADHD, which are not pictured, where the AE+/− group was not significantly different from the ADHD group (see Table 3).
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| Title | Year | PMID |
|---|---|---|
| Meta-Analyses of Externalizing Disorders: Genetics or Prenatal Alcohol Exposure? | 2018 | 29063614 |
External
| Title | Authors | Journal | Year | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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