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Gender-Related Clinical Characteristics in Children and Adolescents with ADHD

Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is the most frequently diagnosed neurodevelopmental disorder in school-age children, and it is usually associated with a significant impairment in global functioning. Traditionally, boys with ADHD are more likely to be referred for clinical assessments...

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Autores principales: De Rossi, Pietro, Pretelli, Italo, Menghini, Deny, D’Aiello, Barbara, Di Vara, Silvia, Vicari, Stefano
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8777610/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35054077
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jcm11020385
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author De Rossi, Pietro
Pretelli, Italo
Menghini, Deny
D’Aiello, Barbara
Di Vara, Silvia
Vicari, Stefano
author_facet De Rossi, Pietro
Pretelli, Italo
Menghini, Deny
D’Aiello, Barbara
Di Vara, Silvia
Vicari, Stefano
author_sort De Rossi, Pietro
collection PubMed
description Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is the most frequently diagnosed neurodevelopmental disorder in school-age children, and it is usually associated with a significant impairment in global functioning. Traditionally, boys with ADHD are more likely to be referred for clinical assessments due to a higher prevalence of externalizing symptoms. However, as regards gender-related differential clinical characteristics between boys and girls with ADHD, further investigation is warranted in light of conflicting results found in currently available literature. In fact, a more precise clinical characterization could help increase appropriate diagnoses and treatment planning. In this context, we carried out a retrospective observational study on 715 children and adolescents diagnosed with ADHD from 2018 to 2020 at our center, in order to describe their gender-related clinical characteristics. Boys displayed higher average IQs, but they were comparable to girls in functional impairments and adaptive skills. Girls displayed higher scores on the Attention Problems subscale of the CBCL 6–18 and on several CPRS-R:L subscales, suggesting higher general ADHD symptom severity. Boys showed higher scores on CBCL 6–18 subscales, such as withdrawn/depressed, internalizing, and obsessive-compulsive problems. In conclusion, girls showed more severe ADHD features and lower IQ in clinically referred settings, while boys showed more internalizing problems and obsessive-compulsive symptoms.
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spelling pubmed-87776102022-01-22 Gender-Related Clinical Characteristics in Children and Adolescents with ADHD De Rossi, Pietro Pretelli, Italo Menghini, Deny D’Aiello, Barbara Di Vara, Silvia Vicari, Stefano J Clin Med Article Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is the most frequently diagnosed neurodevelopmental disorder in school-age children, and it is usually associated with a significant impairment in global functioning. Traditionally, boys with ADHD are more likely to be referred for clinical assessments due to a higher prevalence of externalizing symptoms. However, as regards gender-related differential clinical characteristics between boys and girls with ADHD, further investigation is warranted in light of conflicting results found in currently available literature. In fact, a more precise clinical characterization could help increase appropriate diagnoses and treatment planning. In this context, we carried out a retrospective observational study on 715 children and adolescents diagnosed with ADHD from 2018 to 2020 at our center, in order to describe their gender-related clinical characteristics. Boys displayed higher average IQs, but they were comparable to girls in functional impairments and adaptive skills. Girls displayed higher scores on the Attention Problems subscale of the CBCL 6–18 and on several CPRS-R:L subscales, suggesting higher general ADHD symptom severity. Boys showed higher scores on CBCL 6–18 subscales, such as withdrawn/depressed, internalizing, and obsessive-compulsive problems. In conclusion, girls showed more severe ADHD features and lower IQ in clinically referred settings, while boys showed more internalizing problems and obsessive-compulsive symptoms. MDPI 2022-01-13 /pmc/articles/PMC8777610/ /pubmed/35054077 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jcm11020385 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
De Rossi, Pietro
Pretelli, Italo
Menghini, Deny
D’Aiello, Barbara
Di Vara, Silvia
Vicari, Stefano
Gender-Related Clinical Characteristics in Children and Adolescents with ADHD
title Gender-Related Clinical Characteristics in Children and Adolescents with ADHD
title_full Gender-Related Clinical Characteristics in Children and Adolescents with ADHD
title_fullStr Gender-Related Clinical Characteristics in Children and Adolescents with ADHD
title_full_unstemmed Gender-Related Clinical Characteristics in Children and Adolescents with ADHD
title_short Gender-Related Clinical Characteristics in Children and Adolescents with ADHD
title_sort gender-related clinical characteristics in children and adolescents with adhd
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8777610/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35054077
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jcm11020385
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