Effects of comorbid disorders on reward processing and connectivity in adults with ADHD.
Oliver GrimmDaan van RooijAsya TshagharyanDilek YildizJan LeonardsAhmed ElgoharyJan K BuitelaarAndreas ReifPublished in: Translational psychiatry (2021)
ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder with a long trajectory into adulthood where it is often comorbid with depression, substance use disorder (SUD) or obesity. Previous studies described a dysregulated dopaminergic system, reflected by abnormal reward processing, both in ADHD as well as in depression, SUD or obesity. No study so far however tested systematically whether pathologies in the brain's reward system explain the frequent comorbidity in adult ADHD. To test this, we acquired MRI scans from 137 participants probing the reward system by a monetary incentive delay task (MIDT) as well as assessing resting-state connectivity with ventral striatum as a seed mask. No differences were found between comorbid disorders, but a significant linear effect pointed toward less left intrastriatal connectivity in patients depending on the number of comorbidities. This points towards a neurobiologically impaired reward- and decision-making ability in patients with more comorbid disorders. This suggests that less intrastriatal connectivity parallels disorder severity but not disorder specificity, while MIDT abnormalities seem mainly to be driven by ADHD.
Keyphrases
- resting state
- attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
- functional connectivity
- autism spectrum disorder
- working memory
- prefrontal cortex
- depressive symptoms
- insulin resistance
- metabolic syndrome
- weight loss
- end stage renal disease
- decision making
- white matter
- type diabetes
- magnetic resonance imaging
- weight gain
- contrast enhanced
- newly diagnosed
- chronic kidney disease
- computed tomography
- sleep quality
- prognostic factors
- molecular dynamics simulations
- spinal cord injury
- obstructive sleep apnea
- young adults
- diffusion weighted imaging
- brain injury
- patient reported
- early life