Aiding diagnosis of childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder of the inattentive presentation: Discriminant function analysis of multi-domain measures including EEG

Stuart J Johnstone; Laura Parrish; Han Jiang; Da-Wei Zhang; Virginia Williams; Sun Li

doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2021.108080

Aiding diagnosis of childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder of the inattentive presentation: Discriminant function analysis of multi-domain measures including EEG

Biol Psychol. 2021 Apr:161:108080. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2021.108080. Epub 2021 Mar 17.

Authors

Stuart J Johnstone¹, Laura Parrish², Han Jiang³, Da-Wei Zhang⁴, Virginia Williams⁵, Sun Li⁶

Affiliations

¹ School of Psychology, Brain & Behaviour Research Institute, University of Wollongong, Australia. Electronic address: sjohnsto@uow.edu.au.
² School of Psychology, Brain & Behaviour Research Institute, University of Wollongong, Australia.
³ School of Special Education, Zhejiang Normal University, Hangzhou, China.
⁴ Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁵ Evolve Psychological and Assessment Services, Wollongong, Australia.
⁶ Peking University Sixth Hospital and Institute of Mental Health, Beijing, China; National Clinical Research Centre for Mental Disorders & Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Ministry of Health (Peking University), Beijing, China.

PMID: 33744372
DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2021.108080

Abstract

Introduction: We developed a neurocognitive assessment tool (NCAT) in consultation with mental health professionals working with children with AD/HD as a diagnostic aid and screening tool. This study examines the predictive utility of NCAT in the classification of children with AD/HD Inattentive presentation.

Method: Fifty three children with AD/HD Inattentive presentation and 161 typically-developing children completed an NCAT assessment. Discriminant function analyses examined group membership prediction for separate components of NCAT and for the components combined.

Results: The combined model correctly classified 93.4 % of participants, with 91.4 % sensitivity and 93.9 % specificity. Contributions to classification were from SNAP-IV, psychological needs satisfaction, self-regulation, executive function performance, and EEG. The combined model resulted in a 9.3 % increase in specificity and 5.9 % increase in sensitivity compared to SNAP-IV alone.

Conclusions: NCAT provides good discrimination between children with and without AD/HD of the Inattentive presentation, and further investigation including other subtypes and comorbidities is warranted.

Keywords: AD/HD; Classification; EEG; Inattentive presentation; Sensitivity; Sleep; Specificity.

MeSH terms

Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity* / diagnosis
Brain Mapping
Child
Cognition
Electroencephalography
Executive Function
Humans