Children with ADHD symptoms have a higher risk for reading, spelling and math difficulties in the GINIplus and LISAplus cohort studies

Darina Czamara; Carla M T Tiesler; Gabriele Kohlböck; Dietrich Berdel; Barbara Hoffmann; Carl-Peter Bauer; Sibylle Koletzko; Beate Schaaf; Irina Lehmann; Olf Herbarth; Andrea von Berg; Bertram Müller-Myhsok; Gerd Schulte-Körne; Joachim Heinrich

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0063859

Children with ADHD symptoms have a higher risk for reading, spelling and math difficulties in the GINIplus and LISAplus cohort studies

PLoS One. 2013 May 27;8(5):e63859. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0063859. Print 2013.

Authors

Darina Czamara¹, Carla M T Tiesler, Gabriele Kohlböck, Dietrich Berdel, Barbara Hoffmann, Carl-Peter Bauer, Sibylle Koletzko, Beate Schaaf, Irina Lehmann, Olf Herbarth, Andrea von Berg, Bertram Müller-Myhsok, Gerd Schulte-Körne, Joachim Heinrich

Affiliation

¹ Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany.

Abstract

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and dyslexia belong to the most common neuro-behavioral childhood disorders with prevalences of around 5% in school-aged children. It is estimated that 20-60% of individuals affected with ADHD also present with learning disorders. We investigated the comorbidity between ADHD symptoms and reading/spelling and math difficulties in two on-going population-based birth cohort studies. Children with ADHD symptoms were at significantly higher risk of also showing reading/spelling difficulties or disorder (Odds Ratio (OR) = 2.80, p = 6.59×10⁻¹³) as compared to children without ADHD symptoms. For math difficulties the association was similar (OR = 2.55, p = 3.63×10⁻⁰⁴). Our results strengthen the hypothesis that ADHD and learning disorders are comorbid and share, at least partially, the same underlying process. Up to date, it is not clear, on which exact functional processes this comorbidity is based.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / complications*
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / epidemiology
Child
Child, Preschool
Cohort Studies
Female
Germany / epidemiology
Humans
Infant
Learning Disabilities / epidemiology
Learning Disabilities / etiology*
Male
Mathematics
Odds Ratio
Population Surveillance
Prevalence
Reading
Surveys and Questionnaires

Grants and funding

The GINI Intervention study was funded for 3 years by grants of the Federal Ministry for Education, Science, Research and Technology (Grant No. 01 EE 9401-4) and Helmholtz Zentrum München, the 6 and 10 years follow-up of the GINIplus study was funded by Helmholtz Zentrum München and, in addition, partly by the Federal Ministry of Environment (IUF, FKZ 20462296). The LISAplus study was funded by Helmholtz Zentrum München, by grants of the Federal Ministry of Environment (BMU) (for IUF, FKZ 20462296), and Federal Ministry for Education, Science, Research, and Technology (No. 01 EG 9705/2 and 01EG9732). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.