Executive Functioning in Children and Adolescents with ADHD and Disruptive Behavior Disorders.

OBJECTIVE

The goal was to compare the impairment on executive functions in children and adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) alone and with comorbid oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), conduct disorder (CD), or both (ADHD+ODD+CD).

DESIGN

A total of 162 patients were diagnosed with the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview for Children and Adolescents (MINI-KID), and the results of their performances in Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) and the Tower of London (ToLo) were compared.

RESULTS

Patients with only ADHD showed less impairment in the BRIEF domains and were younger than those with ADHD+CD; the latter group showed a better performance in the time-related domains of ToLo. Patients with ADHD+ODD+CD did not present a consistently worse cognitive performance.

CONCLUSION

The cognitive performance of patients with ADHD and externalizing disorders seems to vary according to the types of specific comorbid diagnoses, rather than the number of externalizing comorbidities.