ADHD with and without anxiety in children: Clinical, socio-demographic and neuropsychological characterization

Introduction: The attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) with anxiety disorder (AD) has shown to have greater clinical complexity in comparison with ADHD without comorbidity. This investigation was coceived to better understand the picture of ADHD and to understand the possible variability that can come with comorbidity. Objective: To determine the clinical, sociodemographic and neuropsychological characterization of children diagnosed with ADHD with and without anxiety and identify significant differences between groups. Methods: The sample consisted of 30 patients diagnosed with ADHD with anxiety, 29 with ADHD but without comorbidity and 33 controls. A questionnaire was designed to identify the sociodemographic data, medical history and an interview was collected. A database for organizing data was constructed, the results and analysis of neuropsychological characterization are here sumarized. Results: There are significant differences in the results of the characterization of the two groups of cases, especially with respect to risk factors associated with nurture in the comorbidity group, as compared with the ADHD group without anxiety. Conclusions: The clinical, demographic and neuropsychological picture of the two groups implyes a different evolution of the disorder.