An investigation of cranial functional magnetic resonance imaging results in children and adolescents with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder and sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT)

• Published in: International journal of child health and human development Vol. 14; no. 1; pp. 21 - 33
• Main Authors: Kardaş, Burcu, Baytunca, Burak, Bolat, Gül Ünsel, İpçi, Melis, İnci, Berrin, Özyurt, Onur, Çallı, Cem, Ercan, Eyüp Sabri
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hauppauge Nova Science Publishers, Inc 01.01.2021
• Subjects: Anxiety; Arousal; Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; Brain; Brain mapping; Child & adolescent psychiatry; Cognitive ability; Comorbidity; Computed tomography; Etiology; Experiments; Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Hyperactivity; Magnetic resonance imaging; Medical research; Neuroimaging; Outpatient care facilities; Parents & parenting; Questionnaires; Teenagers
• ISSN: 1939-5965

Sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) is a disorder of cognitive arousal and awakening impairment that shows clinical symptoms such as falling into a dream, difficulty in staying awake, low energy. In our study, we aimed to evaluate functional MRI findings of patients with SCT co-diagnosed with ADHD, compare them with healthy control subjects and obtain information about the etiology of SCT. The study sample consisted of 24 patients with SCT-ADHDADP (attention deficit-predominant type), 18 patients with SCT-ADHD-CT (compound type) and 24 healthy controls. Significant hyperactivity was detected during the Go test in the SCT-co-diagnosed ADHD cases and the SCT-ADHD-CT cases when compared with the control group in terms of imaging findings. There was no significant difference in the SCT-ADHD-ADP cases compared to the control group. Our study was the first to compare fMRI findings of SCT comorbid ADHD patients with a healthy control group. In our study, it was found that the posterior brain regions were more active when a task requiring attention was given to SCT cases. According to some authors, this activation in the posterior region is considered a compensatory mechanism for lifelong attention deficit symptoms.