A new study from Great Britain concluded that Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder has a genetic basis, but many experts in the field were quick to disagree.
- Professor Anita Thapar and her colleagues at Cardiff University compared the DNA from 366 children with ADHD to the DNA of 1047 people without the disorder.
- About 15% of the ADHD group had large and rare variations found in only 7% of the control group.
"We found that compared with the control group, the children with ADHD had much higher rates of chunks of DNA that are either duplicated or missing," said Dr. Thapar. "This is really exciting because it gives us the first direct genetic link to ADHD. .. There is a lot of public misunderstanding about ADHD some people say it is not a real disorder or that it is the result of bad parenting. Finding this direct link should address the issue of stigma."
- However, other experts pointed out that only 57 of the 366 children with ADHD had the genetic variant, which means seven out of eight did not.
- Psychiatrist Tim Kendall expressed concern that the study would encourage medical professionals to treat ADHD only with the drugs, since the study implies a biological basis.
- He and others believe that ADHD is caused by a mixture of genetic and environmental factors.
This study was published in the British medical journal, The Lancet.
Posted By: 4ADHD.com
