Associations between birth weight and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptom severity: indirect effects via primary neuropsychological functions

• Published in: Journal of child psychology and psychiatry 2014-04, Vol.55 (4), p.384-392
• Main Authors: Hatch, Burt, Healey, Dione M., Halperin, Jeffrey M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: ADHD; Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity - etiology; Attention deficit disorders. Hyperactivity; Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; Biological and medical sciences; Birth Weight; Child clinical studies; Child psychology; Child, Preschool; Female; Humans; Hyperactivity; Infant, Low Birth Weight - psychology; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Medical sciences; Neuropsychological functioning; Neuropsychological Tests; Neuropsychology; Pregnancy; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Severity; Severity of Illness Index; Symptoms
• ISSN: 0021-9630; 1469-7610
• DOI: 10.1111/jcpp.12168

Background Attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has a range of aetiological origins which are associated with a number of disruptions in neuropsychological functioning. This study aimed to examine how low birth weight, a proxy measure for a range of environmental complications during gestation, predicted ADHD symptom severity in preschool‐aged children indirectly via neuropsychological functioning. Methods A total of 197 preschool‐aged children were recruited as part of a larger longitudinal study. Two neuropsychological factors were derived from NEPSY domain scores. One, referred to as ‘Primary Neuropsychological Function,’ was loaded highly with Sensorimotor and Visuospatial scores. The other, termed ‘Higher‐Order Function’ was loaded highly with Language and Memory domain scores. Executive functioning split evenly across the two. Analyses examined whether these neuropsychological factors allowed for an indirect association between birth weight and ADHD symptom severity. Results As both factors were associated with symptom severity, only the Primary Neuropsychological Factor was associated with birth weight. Furthermore, birth weight was indirectly associated to symptom severity via this factor. Conclusions These data indicate that birth weight is indirectly associated with ADHD severity via disruption of neuropsychological functions that are more primary in function as opposed to functions that play a higher‐order role in utilising and integrating the primary functions.