Poor performance of fine motor activity among biological parents of children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Abstract

It has been proposed that the dopaminergic system and heritability may play roles in attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). We assessed the performance of healthy parents of children with ADHD in the finger tapping test (FTT) in this study, which is a reliable test and sensitive to central dopamine activity. A total of 16 parents of children with ADHD and 32 controls were enrolled. The FTT was conducted. The 16 healthy parents of children with ADHD exhibited a significantly poorer performance in the FTT, using the nondominant hand, than the 32 healthy controls. This finding indicated that poor motor function could be a potential characteristic in parents of offspring with ADHD.

Keywords

• Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
• Dopamine
• Endophenotype
• Finger tapping test (FTT)
• Nondominant hand