[Association between the characteristics of coordination development disorder and symptoms of attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity in children in the city of Manizales].

INTRODUCTION

Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) in childhood is an important public health problem, which has important implications for different spheres of development: motor, cognitive, psychosocial and emotional. Therefore, the presence of comorbidity is common, along with other disorders in child development. This article presents a study that determines the association between DCD characteristics with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms.

OBJECTIVE

To determine the association between DCD characteristics and ADHD symptoms in the city of Manizales, Colombia.

METHODS

Cross-sectional, descriptive and associative study, in a sample of 140 children aged 6-12, randomised in public and private institutions. A structured interview was conducted, along with the questionnaires MINIKID and Cuestionario para Trastorno del Desarrollo de la Coordinación (CTDC). A descriptive univariate analysis was performed on the the sociodemographic characteristics, as well as association tests with χ(2) test, and dependence level with φ coefficient.

RESULTS

A statistically significant association was found between the CTDC characteristics with ADHD symptoms (φ=.452; P=.001).

CONCLUSIONS

An association was found in the studied population between the CTDC characteristics and ADHD symptoms, indicating that children with difficulties in motor performance may also have attention difficulties and hyperactivity.