Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
New researchAre Autism Spectrum Disorder and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Different Manifestations of One Overarching Disorder? Cognitive and Symptom Evidence From a Clinical and Population-Based Sample
Section snippets
Participants
The study was approved by the Central Committee on Research involving Human Subjects (CCMO) and participants were enrolled between January 2009 and July 2011. Eligible participants were 370 children from a random population cohort study (Schoolkids Project Interrelating DNA and Endophenotype Research [SPIDER]) and 274 children from a clinical ASD-ADHD genetic study (Biological Origins of Autism [BOA]). The BOA cohort consisted of siblings, including DSM-IV–based ASD, ADHD and ASD+ADHD cases,
Identifying Homogeneous Symptom Classes
The LCA was based on fit and accuracy measures and revealed a solution with five classes.41 Five classes had the best fitting BIC (126554) and SSA BIC (121572) values, p values on the Vuong-Lo-Mendell-Rubin Likelihood Ratio Test and Lo-Mendell-Rubin Adjusted Likelihood Ratio Test (for both, p = 0.003). The behavioral profiles of the classes are presented in Figure 1. For the sake of clarity, the classes were labeled. Classes 1 and 2 could be viewed as normative groups, showing hardly any
Discussion
This study examined whether different ASD-ADHD symptom classes exist and whether their overlap or distinctiveness in associated traits (comorbid symptoms and cognitive functions) gave support for the (gradient) overarching disorder hypothesis or for the (partly) distinct disorders hypothesis. If the gradient overarching disorder hypothesis is accurate, LCA would identify at least one ADHD class with no or only minor ASD symptoms and no ASD class without ADHD symptoms. This is exactly what we
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Supplemental material cited in this article is available online.
This study was partly funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) by grants 91610024 (N.N.J.R.), 056-13-015 (J.K.B.), and by Neurotechnology Solutions Ltd.
Disclosure: Dr. de Sonneville is the director of Sonares B.V., a company which commercially distributes the Amsterdamse Neuropsychologische Taken (ANT) program. He has served on the advisory board for, on the speakers' bureau for, and as a consultant to Danone, Eli Lilly and Co., Friesland Campina, and Global Pharma Consultancy. Dr. Buitelaar has served on the advisory board for, on the speakers' bureau for, and as a consultant to Janssen-Cilag B.V., Eli Lilly and Co., Bristol-Myers Squibb, Organon/Shering Plough, U.C.B., Shire, Medice, Roche, and Servier. Drs. van der Meer, Oerlemans, van Steijn, Lappenschaar, and Rommelse report no biomedical financial interests or potential conflicts of interest.