Must Read: New Study Examines Brain Differences In Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

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The largest imaging study of Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) recently identifies differences in five regions of the brain, with greatest differences seen in kids rather than in adults. The recent study suggests that ADHD is associated with the delayed development of five regions of the brain and should be considered a brain disorder.

The study is said to be the largest that investigated into the brain volumes of people with ADHD. The researchers conducted the study on more than 3,200 people. They noted that their findings could help improve understanding of the disorder.

 They also believe that it could be crucial in challenging beliefs that ADHD is a label for difficult children or the result of poor parenting. The condition is accompanied by symptoms such as inattention and/or hyperactivity and acting impulsively.

According to the study, ADHD affects more than one in 20 (5.3%) children under the age of 18 years, with two-thirds of persons diagnosed with the condition continue to experience symptoms even as adults. Although previous studies have linked the differences in brain volume with ADHD, the findings of this studies have been inconclusive.

The areas involved in ADHD are said to be located in the basal ganglia, which is a part of the brain that controls emotion, voluntary movement and cognition. The researchers initially found that the caudate and putamen regions within the ganglia are smaller in people with ADHD.

They measured the differences in the brain structure of 1,713 patients that have been diagnosed with the disorder and 1,529 people who do not have ADHD. They were all between the age of four and 63 years old, according to CNN. All 3,242 participants in the study underwent an MRI scan to measure the overall volume, and the size of seven regions of the brain that were thought to be linked to ADHD (pallidum, caudate nucleus, thalamus, putamen, amygdala, nucleus accumbens and hippocampus).

The study authors also checked whether participants with ADHD had ever taken psychostimulant medications like Ritalin. They found that the overall brain volume and five of the regional volumes were smaller in people with ADHD. These regions were putamen, caudate nucleus, amygdala, nucleus accumbens and hippocampus.

The researchers noted that the differences observed were most prominent in the brains of children with ADHD, but less obvious in that of adults with the disorder. Based on their findings, they propose that ADHD is a disorder of the brain characterized by the delays in the development of several brain regions, according to Science Daily.

The researchers, apart from the caudate nucleus and putamen, which has already been linked by previous studies to ADHD, were able to conclusively link the nucleus accumbens, amygdala and hippocampus to the disorder. They published their findings in The Lancet Psychiatry.

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