Search

Background: Epidemiological studies suggest that maternal diet quality during pregnancy may influence the risk of neurodevelopmental disorders in offspring. Here, we investigated associations between maternal intake of dietary fiber and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms in early childhood., Methods: We used longitudinal data of up to 21,852 mother-father-child trios (49.2% female offspring) from MoBa (the Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study). The relationships between maternal fiber intake during pregnancy and offspring ADHD symptoms at ages 3, 5, and 8 years were examined using 1) multivariate regression (overall levels of ADHD symptoms), 2) latent class analysis (subclasses of ADHD symptoms by sex at each age), and 3) latent growth curves (longitudinal change in offspring ADHD symptoms). Covariates were ADHD polygenic scores in child and parents, total energy intake and energy-adjusted sugar intake, parental ages at birth of the child, and sociodemographic factors., Results: Higher maternal prenatal fiber intake was associated with lower offspring ADHD symptom scores at all ages (B age3  = -0.14 [95% CI, -0.18 to -0.10]; B age5  = -0.14 [95% CI, -0.19 to -0.09]; B age8  = -0.14 [95% CI, -0.20 to -0.09]). Of the derived low/middle/high subclasses of ADHD symptoms, fiber was associated with lower risk of belonging to the middle subclass for boys and girls and to the high subclass for girls only (middle: odds ratio boys 0.91 [95% CI, 0.86 to 0.97]/odds ratio girls 0.86 [95% CI, 0.81 to 0.91]; high: odds ratio girls 0.82 [95% CI, 0.72 to 0.94]). Maternal fiber intake and rate of change in child ADHD symptoms across ages were not associated., Conclusions: Low prenatal maternal fiber intake may increase symptom levels of ADHD in offspring during childhood, independently of genetic predisposition to ADHD, unhealthy dietary exposures, and sociodemographic factors., (Copyright © 2023 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) share common genetic factors but seem to have specific patterns of psychiatric comorbidities. There are few systematic studies on adults; therefore, we compared psychiatric comorbidities in adults with these two neurodevelopmental disorders using population-based data and analyzed their genetic correlations to evaluate underlying factors., Methods: Using data from Norwegian registries, we assessed patterns of psychiatric disorders in adults with ADHD (n = 38,636; 2.3%), ASD (n = 7528; 0.4%), and both diagnoses (n = 1467; 0.1%) compared with the remaining adult population (n = 1,653,575). We calculated their prevalence ratios (PRs) and differences using Poisson regression, also examining sex-specific relations. Genetic correlations (r g ) among ADHD, ASD, and the examined psychiatric disorders were calculated by linkage disequilibrium score regression, exploiting summary statistics from relevant genome-wide association studies., Results: For all psychiatric comorbidities, PRs differed between ADHD and ASD. Associations were strongest in individuals with ADHD and ADHD+ASD for most comorbidities, in both men and women. The relative prevalence increase of substance use disorder was three times larger in ADHD than in ASD (PR ADHD , 6.2; 95% confidence interval [CI], 6.1-6.4; PR ASD , 1.9; 95% CI, 1.7-2.2; p < .001); however, the opposite was true for schizophrenia (PR ASD , 13.9; 95% CI, 12.7-15.2; PR ADHD , 4.4; 95% CI, 4.1-4.7; p < .001). Genetic correlations supported these patterns but were significantly different between ADHD and ASD only for the substance use disorder proxies and personality traits (p < .006 for all)., Conclusions: Adults with ADHD, ASD, or both ADHD and ASD have specific patterns of psychiatric comorbidities. This may partly be explained by differences in underlying genetic factors., (Copyright © 2019 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Prenatal inflammatory mechanisms may play a role in the pathogenesis of psychiatric disorders and could be relevant for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). We investigated maternal chronic somatic diseases with immune components as possible risk factors for ADHD in offspring., Methods: We performed a population-based nested case-control study by linking data from longitudinal Norwegian registers. We included all individuals born during the period 1967-2008 and alive at record linkage (2012). Individuals receiving ADHD medication during the years 2004-2012 were defined as patients with ADHD (N = 47,944), and all remaining individuals (N = 2,274,713) were defined as control subjects. The associations between maternal diseases and ADHD in offspring were analyzed using logistic regression models., Results: The following chronic diseases with immune components were related to ADHD in offspring: multiple sclerosis (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 1.8; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.2-2.5), rheumatoid arthritis (adjusted OR = 1.7; 95% CI = 1.5-1.9), type 1 diabetes (adjusted OR = 1.6; 95% CI = 1.3-2.0), asthma (adjusted OR = 1.5; 95% CI = 1.4-1.6), and hypothyroidism (adjusted OR = 1.2; 95% CI = 1.1-1.4). In contrast, chronic hypertension and type 2 diabetes showed no significant associations. Estimates were almost unchanged with additional adjustment for parental ADHD, infant birth weight, and gestational age. Although point estimates for male and female offspring were different for some diseases (e.g., maternal asthma [adjusted OR = 1.7; 95% CI = 1.5-1.8 for female offspring and adjusted OR = 1.5; 95% CI = 1.4-1.6 for male offspring]), none of the associations differed significantly by offspring sex., Conclusions: Several maternal somatic diseases with immune components were found to increase the risk of ADHD in offspring. The associations could involve several causal pathways, including common genetic predisposition and environmental factors, and increased insight into the mechanisms behind these relationships could enhance our understanding of the etiology of ADHD., (Copyright © 2015 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a prevalent and disabling lifespan disorder, but little is yet known about risk factors for ADHD persisting beyond adolescence. The present study investigates the association between pregnancy and birth complications and ADHD in adulthood., Methods: We used data from the Medical Birth Registry of Norway to compare pre-and perinatal risk factors among 2323 adults approved for medical treatment for ADHD, with the remaining population born during the same years, 1967-1987, and surviving into adulthood (n = 1,170,073). Relative risks (RR) adjusted for potential confounders were calculated., Results: Preterm (< 37 weeks of gestation) and extremely preterm birth (< 28 weeks of gestation) were associated with 1.3- and 5-fold increased risks of ADHD, respectively. Birth weights <2500 g and <1500 g also increased the risk of ADHD (RR: 1.5, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.2-1.8, and RR: 2.1, 95% CI: 1.3-3.6, respectively). Five-minute Apgar scores <4 and <7 were associated with 2.8- and 1.5-fold increased risks of persisting ADHD, respectively. Maternal epilepsy (RR: 1.7, 95% CI: 1.1-2.7) and offspring oral cleft (RR: 2.8, 95% CI: 1.6-4.9) occurred more frequently among adult ADHD patients., Conclusions: This is the first population-based study of pre-and perinatal risk factors in adults with ADHD. We show that low birth weight, preterm birth, and low Apgar scores increase the risk of ADHD, persisting up to 40 years after birth. The increased risk of ADHD related to oral cleft and to maternal epilepsy warrants further investigation to explore possible causal mechanisms.