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The current study examined the impact of the lockdown due to the Covid-19 disease on mood state and behaviours of children and adolescents with ADHD. Nine hundred ninety-two parents of children and adolescents with ADHD filled out an anonymous online survey through the ADHD family association website. The survey investigated the degree of severity of six emotional and mood states (sadness, boredom, little enjoyment/interest, irritability, temper tantrums, anxiety) and five disrupted behaviours (verbal and physical aggression, argument, opposition, restlessness) based on their frequency/week (absent; low: 1-2 days/week; moderate: 3-4 days/week; severe: 5-7 days/week) before and during the lockdown. Important fluctuations were found in all dimensions during the lockdown independently by the severity degree. Subjects with previous low severity degree of these behaviors significantly worsened in almost all dimensions during the lockdown. On the contrary, ADHD patients with moderate and severe degree showed important improvement during the lockdown. Little enjoyment/interests and boredom resulted the dimensions more strongly affected by the condition of restriction, overall in children. Children vs. adolescents showed substantially similar trend but the former resulted significantly more vulnerable to emotive changes. The results provided both the individuation of domains affected, and the indirect benefits produced by restriction condition., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

The aim of the study is to explore the impact of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) comorbidity in children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Six hundred children with ADHD (mean age = 9.12 years), recruited from 2013 to 2017, participated in the study. A total of 96 (16%) children with ADHD displayed a comorbidity with GAD. ADHD + GAD were compared to 504 ADHD children without GAD in terms of cognitive and psychiatric profile, ADHD subtype and family psychiatric history. The ADHD + GAD, predominantly represented from ADHD combined (72.6%), displayed higher psychiatry comorbidity, in particular with depressive disorders, and were associated with higher rates of maternal depression, of ADHD in fathers, and bipolar disorders in second degree relatives. Moreover, younger preschool-primary school age children with ADHD + GAD showed significant higher frequency of depressive disorders versus younger preschool-primary children with ADHD without GAD. ADHD + GAD comorbidity represents a more complex clinical condition compared to ADHD without GAD, characterized by the higher frequency of multiple comorbidities and by a psychiatric family with higher rates of mood and disruptive disorders., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The present study aimed at: (1) exploring rate and clinical features of superimposed bipolar disorder (BD) in Italian children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), compared with a community sample, matched for age and gender; (2) exploring predictors of BD in ADHD children, by comparing ADHD children with or without superimposed BD. We studied 173 consecutive drug-naïve outpatients with ADHD (156 males and 17 females, mean age of 9.2 ± 2.3years, age range 6-17.5 years), diagnosed with a clinical interview (Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children-Present and Lifetime Version (K-SADS-PL)); the control group consisted of a community-based sample of 100 healthy children. The rate of children with a diagnosis of BD was higher in the ADHD group (29/173, 16.7%) compared with controls (1/100, 1%), (P<0.001). Among the 29 children with ADHD+BD, 16 (55.2%) had a Bipolar Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (BD-NOS), and 11 (37.9%) showed ultrarapid cycling. Compared with children with ADHD without BD, they showed a higher rate of combined sub-type (21/29, 72.4%), a higher score at ADHD-Rating Scale (total score and hyperactivity subscale), higher rates of major depression, oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder. In summary, children with ADHD present a higher risk for developing a superimposed BD. The identification of clinical features with an increased risk of BD can improve diagnosis, prognosis and treatments., (Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)