Citation

Akutagava-Martins GC, Salatino-Oliveira A, Kieling C, Genro JP, Polanczyk GV, Anselmi L, Menezes AM, Gonçalves H, Wehrmeister FC, Barros FC, Callegari-Jacques SM, Rohde LAP, Hutz MH. J. Psychiatry Neurosci. 2016; 41(5): e150270.

Affiliation

From the Department of Genetics, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil (Akutagava-Martins, Salatino-Oliveira, Genro, Hutz); the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Division, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil (Kieling, Rohde); the Department of Psychiatry, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil (Polanczyk); the Graduate Program in Epidemiology, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil (Anselmi, Menezes, Gonçalves, Wehrmeister, Barros); the Graduate Program in Health and Behavior, Universidade Católica de Pelotas, Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil (Barros); the Department of Statistics, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil (Callegari-Jacques); and the Institute for Developmental Psychiatry for Children and Adolescents (INCT-CNPq), Brazil (Polanczyk, Rohde).

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Canadian Medical Association)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

27327562

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms are dimensionally distributed in the population. This study aimed to assess the role of the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) and of the dopamine transporter (DAT1) genes on ADHD symptoms in the general population.

METHODS: We investigated 4101 individuals from the 1993 Pelotas Birth Cohort Study using the parent version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) at ages 11 and 15 years. The SDQ hyperactivity/inattention scores were the main outcomes.

RESULTS: Linear regression analyses demonstrated that the increasing number of COMT158Val and DAT1 10R alleles significantly predicted increasing SDQ hyperactivity/inattention scores in boys at both 11 and 15 years of age (β coefficient = 0.049, t = 2.189, p = 0.029, R2 = 0.012, and β coefficient = 0.064, t = 2.832, p = 0.005, R2 = 0.008, respectively). The presence of both COMT158Val and DAT1 10R alleles was also associated with full categorical ADHD diagnosis at 18 years of age in boys (χ2 = 4.561, p = 0.033, odds ratio 2.473, 95% confidence interval 1.048-5.838) from this cohort. We did not observe these associations in girls. LIMITATIONS: Our analyses of SDQ hyperactivity/inattention scores were not corrected for SDQ scores of conduct problems because these variables were highly correlated.

CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates a role for COMT and DAT1 genes on hyperactivity/inattention symptoms and provides further support for ADHD as the extreme of traits that vary in the population. It also confirms previous evidence for sexual dimorphism on COMT and DAT1 gene expression.

Language: en