Hundreds of Genes Could Be Linked to ADHD
THURSDAY, June 25 (HealthDay News) -- Hundreds of gene variations that may be associated with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have been identified by U.S. researchers.
Many of these genes were known to be involved in learning, behavior, brain function and neurodevelopment, but this is the first study to link them to ADHD. The findings appear in the June 23 online edition of Molecular Psychiatry.
"Because the gene alterations we found are involved in the development of the nervous system, they may eventually guide researchers to better targets in designing early intervention for children with ADHD," study author Dr. Josephine Elia, a psychiatrist and ADHD expert at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, said in a school news release.
For this study, Elia and her colleagues analyzed genomes from 335 ADHD patients and their families, and compared them to more than 2,000 children without ADHD. The hundreds of gene variations were found to occur more often in children with ADHD than in normal children.
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