Difficulties maintaining prolonged fixation and attention-deficit/hyperactivity symptoms share genetic influences in childhood

Terje Falck-Ytter; Erik Pettersson; Sven Bölte; Brian D'Onofrio; Paul Lichtenstein; Daniel P Kennedy

doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113384

Difficulties maintaining prolonged fixation and attention-deficit/hyperactivity symptoms share genetic influences in childhood

Psychiatry Res. 2020 Nov:293:113384. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113384. Epub 2020 Aug 18.

Authors

Terje Falck-Ytter¹, Erik Pettersson², Sven Bölte³, Brian D'Onofrio⁴, Paul Lichtenstein², Daniel P Kennedy⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden; Center of Neurodevelopmental Disorders at Karolinska Institutet (KIND), Dept of Women's and Children's Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study (SCAS), Uppsala, Sweden. Electronic address: terje.falck-ytter@psyk.uu.se.
² Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
³ Center of Neurodevelopmental Disorders at Karolinska Institutet (KIND), Dept of Women's and Children's Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Child Psychiatry Stockholm, Center for Psychiatry Research, Stockholm County Council, Sweden; Curtin Autism Research Group, School of Occupational Therapy, Social Work and Speech Pathology, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia.
⁴ Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, USA.

PMID: 32823201
DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113384

Abstract

This study investigated the association between the ability to maintain prolonged (2-minute) fixation on a visual target and ADHD traits in a sample consisting of 120 monozygotic and 120 dizygotic twin pairs, aged 9 to 14 years. More intrusive saccades during the task was associated with higher level of parent-reported ADHD traits. Both intrusive saccades and ADHD symptoms had high heritability estimates, and there was a moderate genetic correlation between number of intrusive saccades and ADHD. This study suggests that inability to maintain ocular fixation for longer times is etiologically linked to ADHD traits in the general population.

Keywords: Etiology; Intermediate phenotype; Neurodevelopmental disorder.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Twin Study

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / diagnosis*
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / genetics*
Child
Female
Fixation, Ocular / genetics*
Humans
Male
Phenotype
Photic Stimulation / methods
Twins, Dizygotic / genetics*
Twins, Monozygotic / genetics*