ARTICLES
Familial Clustering of Executive Functioning in Affected Sibling Pair Families With ADHD

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ABSTRACT

Objective

To investigate familial clustering of executive functioning (i.e., response inhibition, fine visuomotor functioning, and attentional control) in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)-affected sibling pairs.

Method

Fifty-two affected sibling pairs aged 6 to 18 years and diagnosed with ADHD according to DSM-IV performed the Stroop test, go/no-go task, two different fine visuomotor tracking tasks, and a sustained-, divided-, and focused attention task.

Results

Significant correlations (r = 0.4) were found between siblings for response inhibition and attentional control and for fine visuomotor skills that made high demands on executive functioning.

Conclusions

Response inhibition, higher order controlled fine visuomotor functioning, and attentional control seem to cluster in ADHD-affected siblings. This suggests that these aspects of executive dysfunctioning may reflect an endophenotype of ADHD. Measurement of these executive functions may facilitate the identification of genes involved in ADHD by forming more homogeneous subgroups.

Section snippets

Participants

The sample consisted of 104 ADHD siblings aged 6 to 18 years from 52 affected sibling pair families, diagnosed according to DSM-IV criteria. In families with more than two affected siblings, the eldest and second eldest siblings were selected.

The 52 affected sibling pairs were a subset of a larger population of ADHD-affected sibling pairs (N = 164) from 106 families who participated in a genome scan study (Bakker et al., 2003). The participants were recruited from families who were referred to

RESULTS

Sibling similarity regarding measures of response inhibition, fine visuomotor functioning, and attentional control was tested per domain of executive functioning. Table 2 gives the mean (SD), partial correlation, significance level, and 95% confidence intervals.

DISCUSSION

In this study, we investigated familial clustering of executive functioning in ADHD-affected sibling pairs. Correlations between siblings were computed for response inhibition, fine visuomotor functioning, and attentional control to investigate whether cognitive correlates of ADHD have a genetic basis. This would provide evidence of a cognitive endophenotype of ADHD. In general, the executive functioning of the siblings was very similar, which suggests that ADHD-related deficits in these

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  • Cited by (0)

    Supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research grant MW 904-57-094. The authors thank Dr. E. van der Meulen and Prof. Dr. R. B. Minderaa for the recruitment of subjects and collection of data. They are grateful to Dr. J. E. C. Sykes for her comments on the manuscript.

    This study was performed at the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University Medical Center Utrecht and Rudolph Magnus Institute for Neurosciences, the Netherlands.

    Correspondence to Dr. D. Slaats-Willemse, Academic Center for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Oost-Nederland, Reinier Postlaan 12, 6525 GC Nijmegen, the Netherlands; e-mail: [email protected].

    Disclosure: The ANT assessment program used in the study was purchased from SONAR, Amstelveen, the Netherlands. Dr. De Sonneville is director of this firm. Dr. Buitelaar has received support from and has been a consultant to Eli Lilly, Janssen Cilag BV, and Abbott. The other authors have no financial relationships to disclose.

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