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Background Attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder is a well-recognized psychiatric disorder of childhood. Its cause is unknown, but there is evidence of a familial predisposition. Symptoms suggestive of this disorder have been reported in subjects with generalized resistance to thyroid hormone, a disease caused by mutations in the thyroid receptor-
Methods We studied 49 affected and 55 unaffected family members; 52 were adults, and 52 were children. All subjects were evaluated with structured psychiatric questionnaires by interviewers who were unaware of the medical diagnosis. The number of symptoms of attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder was calculated for each subject.
Results Among the adults, 11 of 22 subjects with generalized resistance to thyroid hormone (50 percent) and 2 of 30 unaffected subjects (7 percent) had met the criteria for attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder as children (P<0.001). Among the children, 19 of 27 subjects resistant to thyroid hormone (70 percent) and 5 of 25 unaffected subjects (20 percent) met the criteria for the disorder (P<0.001). The odds of having attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder were 3.2 times higher for affected male subjects than for affected female subjects and 2.7 times higher for unaffected male subjects than for unaffected female subjects. The mean symptom score was 2.5 times higher in the affected group than in the unaffected group (7.0 vs. 2.8, P<0.001). The frequency of other psychiatric diagnoses was similar in the two groups.
Conclusions In our study sample, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder is strongly associated with generalized resistance to thyroid hormone.
gene and characterized by reduced responsiveness of peripheral and pituitary tissues to the actions of thyroid hormone. We systematically evaluated the presence and severity of attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder in 18 families with a history of generalized resistance to thyroid hormone.
Source Information
From the Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology Branch, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (P.H., A.J.M., B.D.W.); and the Section on Clinical Brain Imaging, Laboratory of Cerebral Metabolism (A.J.Z., J.A.M.), the Laboratory of Developmental Psychology (P.M.), and the Division of Basic Brain and Behavioral Sciences (B.V.), National Institute of Mental Health -- both at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md.
Address reprint requests to Dr. Hauser at the Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology Branch, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, NIH, Bldg. 10, Rm. 8D-14, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20892.
Related Letters:
Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder
Stein M. A., Leventhal B. L., Rowlett R., DeSpirito A. P., Hauser P., Zametkin A. J., Weintraub B., Ciaranello R. D.
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Full Text
N Engl J Med 1993;
329:966-967, Sep 23, 1993.
Correspondence
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