Introduction: Children diagnosed with attention deficit disorder (ADD) can present with different abnormalities in electrophysiological studies.
Objective: The purpose of this paper is to compare brainstem auditory (short latency) evoked responses (BSAER) and long latency auditory evoked responses (LLAER) in school children with and without ADD.
Materials and methods: A normative study was carried out, 20 normal subjects were studied. All these patients underwent a study protocol including BSAER and LLAER. Eighteen school children diagnosed as ADD were included in the active group. Eighteen school children were selected as controls. All children from both groups underwent BSAER and LLAER. BSAER and LLAER results from both groups of patients were compared.
Results: Brainstem transmission was significantly longer in children with ADD. The latency of P300 was significantly longer in children with ADD. Also, mean amplitude of P300 was significantly decreased in children with ADD.
Conclusion: The results of this study indicates that school children with ADD show significant abnormalities in BSAER and LLAER. These electrophysiological procedures involving the auditory system can be useful for the diagnosis of children with ADD.