Impaired segregation of the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder related pattern in children

Background: Inattention is a key characteristic of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Specific brain abnormalities associated with this symptom form a discernible pattern related with ADHD in children (i.e., ADHD related pattern) in our earlier research. The developmental processes of segregation and integration may be crucial to ADHD. However, how brains reconfigure these processes of the ADHD related pattern in different subtypes of ADHD and across sexes remain unclear.Methods: Nested-spectral partition method was applied to identify effects of subtype and sex on segregation and integration of the ADHD related pattern, using 145 ADHD patients and 135 typically developing controls (TDC) aged 7-14. Relationships between the measures and inattention symptoms were also investigated.Results: Children with ADHD exhibited lower segregation of the ADHD related pattern (p = 1.17 x 10(-8)) than TDCs. Only the main effect of subtype was significant (p = 1.14 x 10(-5)). Both ADHD-C (p = 2.16 x 10(-6)) and ADHD-I (p = 2.87 x 10(-6)) patients had lower segregation components relative to the TDC. Moreover, segregation components were negatively correlated with inattention scores.Conclusions: This study identified impaired segregation in the ADHD related pattern of children with ADHD and found shared neural bases among different subtypes and sexes.