Objective: To explore the alpha competitive structure in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) with/without oppositional defiant disorder (ODD).
Methods: According to DSM-IV diagnostic criteria, the study involved ADHD children with ODD, pure ADHD children and normal controls. Each group consisted of 46 subjects. All subjects were between the ages of 7 and 14 years, and the groups were matched by gender, age and ADHD subtypes. Electroencephalogram(EEG) data were recorded during an eye-closed resting period and then were analyzed with EEG-elecephaloflutuographic technology (EEG-ET) .
Results: (1) The pure ADHD children showed significantly more 8 Hz activity(28.07%+/-15.57%) than that of the normal control group(18.72%+/-1.42%, P=0. 004). Compared with ADHD children with ODD, there were no significant differences in pure ADHD children and normal controls in terms of the dominant probability of 8 Hz(P> 0.05)h (2) The entropy value of the ADHD with ODD group was significantly higher than that of the normal controls in the right frontal region, right central region, and bilateral occipital region(P< 0.05).
Conclusion: The pure ADHD children show more maturational lag pattern in the central neurons system than that of children with ADHD and comorbidity ODD. However, children with ADHD and comorbidity ODD have poor brain self-organization ability in the right frontal lobe. The current results suggest that the pathogenic mechanisms may be different between ADHD comorbid with or without ODD.