Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in Patients with and without Head Trauma

Abstract

Shahrokh Amiri,1 Elham Esmaeili,2 Firooz Salehpour,3 Farhad Mirzaei,4 Habibeh Barzegar,5 Aysan Mohammad Namdar,6 Homayoun Sadeghi-Bazargani7 1Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Research Center of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran; 2Psychiatry, Research Center of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran; 3Department of Neurosurgery, School of Medicine, Imam Reza Medical Research & Training Hospital, Tabriz University of Medical Science, Tabriz, Iran; 4Neurosurgery, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran; 5Health Psychology, Research Center of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran; 6Road Traffic Injury Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran; 7Road Traffic Injury Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, IranCorrespondence: Homayoun Sadeghi-BazarganiRoad Traffic Injury Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Golgasht Ave, Tabriz, IranTel [phone]Email [email protected]: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in adults is one of the psychological problems that can increase the risk of accidents and trauma, especially head trauma. Recent studies have reported the frequency of adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) among trauma patients. Adult AD0HD has been reported in trauma patients. In the present study, we hypothesized that adult ADHD was more common among head trauma patients following an accident compared to a group without trauma.Materials and Methods: In this case-control study, 230 patients with head injuries and 460 non-trauma patients were selected. The adult Connors self-report screening scale (CAARS-SV) was used to screen for ADHD. Three subscales as subscale A (attention deficit index), subscale B (hyperactivity index) and subscale D (ADHD index) were evaluated between the two groups. Using linear multiple regression analysis, the effect of group, age, gender, and socioeconomic variables on ADHD scores was evaluated.Results: The total frequency of adult ADHD was 9.5%, which was equal to 1.6% in the trauma group and 9.5% in the non-trauma group. The experimental group had more drivers as the job (11.7% vs 3.7%, P< 0.001) compared to the control group. Of the Connors subscales, only the D subscale was significantly lower in the case group than in the control group (6.35 6 5.11 vs 51.72 4 72.4, P=0.003). The prevalence of ADHD in patients with head trauma and non-trauma head injury was 6.1% and 5.9%, respectively, which did not show a statistically significant difference (P=0.9). Linear regression analysis showed that the subscale D only had a significant relationship with group and age. However, by entering variables in logistic regression analysis, it was observed that only the age variable was significant in the presence of other variables.Conclusion: According to the results of the present study, the frequency of adult ADHD in trauma patients, as a screening diagnosis, was not found to be higher than non-traumatic patients.Keywords: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, ADHD, adults, head trauma, traumatic brain injury

Keywords

• attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (adhd)
• adults
• head trauma
• traumatic brain injury