Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

ADHD symptoms change with age

|
|
 
  
Published: Jan. 24, 2008 at 6:09 PM

OULU, Finland, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers looking at attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in Finnish children confirm ADHD symptoms change with age.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, confirms hyperactive and impulsive behaviors do decrease with age, while inattention increasingly becomes predominant.

Two-thirds of children with ADHD continue to exhibit significant levels of inattentiveness and impairment into adolescence, despite the differences between treatment approaches and cultures between the United States and Finland, the study said.

University of California, Los Angeles, researchers, led by Susan Smalley, looked at ADHD teens in Finland that were part of a long-term study begun prenatally in l986 by the Imperial College London and the University of Oulu, Finland.

The ADHD population in northern Finland exhibited two genes associated with ADHD known as DBH and DRD2. These genes affect the regulation of dopamine -- a neurotransmitter involved in attention, motivation and emotion. Although the researchers say the genes likely account for very little of the genetic variation underlying ADHD, the findings further support the involvement of the dopamine pathway in the disorder.

Recommended Stories
© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
The Chicago Auto Show The making of the Oscars Mercedes-Benz fashion week In New York
The Tibetan Moniam Festival in China The White House Science Fair Super Bowl XLVI ticker tape victory parade
Additional Health News Stories
1 of 25
Meryl Streep and Colin Firth attend the "BAFTA" ceremony in London
View Caption
fark
Not many companies can claim that their net domain address clearly explains what it is that the...
"Any self-important, self-propagating elitist, I will happily bare my buttocks to"
You don't have to be too smart to coach high school sports. Just smart enough to not post nude photos...
There's vandalizing your school, and then there's doing a million dollars damage to your school
Police say Taylor Burnham, 18, was only wearing cowboy boots as she led police on a Sunday morning...
If you're working as a dog groomer and accidentally chop off a dog's ear, don't try to glue it back,...