Homocysteine, Pyridoxine, Folate and Vitamin B12 Levels in Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

BACKGROUND

In our study, we aimed to evaluate the serum homocysteine levels, pyridoxine, folate and vitamin B12 levels in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorders (ADHD).

SUBJECTS AND

METHODS

This study included 30 newly diagnosed drug-naive children with ADHD (23 males and 7 female, mean age 9.3±1.8 years) and 30 sex-and age matched healthy controls. The diagnosis of ADHD was made according to DSM-V criteria. Children and adolescents were administered the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School Aged Children, Present and Lifetime Version, the Conners' Parent Rating Scale-Revised, Long Form, the Conners' Teacher Rating Scale and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children Revised (WISC-R) for all participants. Homocysteine, pyridoxine, folate and vitamin B12 levels were measured with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

RESULTS

Homocysteine, pyridoxine, folate and vitamin B12 levels were significantly lower in children with ADHD compared with their controls (p<0.05). A positive significant correlation was observed between the all WISC-R scores and vitamin B12 level in patients (r=0.408, p=0.025).

CONCLUSIONS

The results obtained in this study showed that reduced homocysteine, pyridoxine, folate and vitamin B12 levels could be a risk factor in the etiology of ADHD.