Brain Signatures During Reward Anticipation Predict Persistent Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Fudan University
  • King's College London (KCL)
  • Heidelberg University 
  • Trinity College Dublin
  • University of Hamburg
  • University of Mannheim
  • Université Paris-Saclay
  • University of Vermont
  • University of Nottingham
  • Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
  • Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt
  • INSERM - Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale
  • Sorbonne Université
  • University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein Campus Kiel
  • University of Montreal
  • University of Göttingen
  • University of Cambridge
  • University of Warwick
  • Zhangjiang Fudan International Innovation Center

Abstract

Objective: Children experiencing attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms may retain symptoms into adulthood, but little is known about the underlying mechanism. Method: To identify biomarkers of persistent ADHD symptom development, we carried out whole-brain analyses of neuroimaging data during the anticipation phase of the Monetary-Incentive-Delay (MID) task in 1,368 adolescents recruited by the IMAGEN Consortium at age 14 years, whose behavioral measurements were followed up longitudinally at age 16. In particular, we focused on comparing individuals with persistent high ADHD symptoms at both ages 14 and 16 years to unaffected control individuals, but also exploring which individuals demonstrating symptom remission (with high ADHD symptoms at age 14 but much reduced at age 16). Results: We identified reduced activations in the medial frontal cortex and the thalamus during reward anticipation as neuro-biomarkers for persistent ADHD symptoms across time. The genetic relevance of the above findings was further supported by the associations of the polygenic risk scores of ADHD with both the persistent and control status and the activations of both brain regions. Furthermore, in an exploratory analysis, the thalamic activation might also help to distinguish persons with persistent ADHD from those remitted in both an exploratory sample (odds ratio = 9.43, p <.001) and an independent generalization sample (odds ratio = 4.64, p =.003). Conclusion: Using a well-established and widely applied functional magnetic resonance imaging task, we have identified neural biomarkers that could discriminate ADHD symptoms that persist throughout adolescence from controls and potentially those likely to remit during adolescent development as well.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1050-1061
Number of pages12
JournalJournal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Volume61
Issue number8
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2022
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMed 34954028
ORCID /0000-0001-5398-5569/work/161890700
ORCID /0000-0002-8493-6396/work/161891631

Keywords

Keywords

  • attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, functional magnetic resonance imaging, monetary incentive delay, polygenic risk score, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire

Library keywords