Network Analysis of ADHD Symptoms and Cognitive Profiles in Children

Qionglin Zhou,1,* Xiaoshan Ye,1,* Chongxia Wei,2,* Yufan Wu,1 Pengcheng Ren,1 Xuewei Lin,2 Ling Li,2 Wei Xiang,1,2 Le Xiao1,2 1Hainan Medical University, Haikou, People’s Republic of China; 2Hainan Women and Children’s Medical Center, Haikou, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Le Xiao; Wei Xiang, Hainan Woman and Children’s Medical Center, Haikou, People’s Republic of China, Email Le.Xiao@hainmc.edu.cn; 13907533529@163.comPurpose: Although many studies have reported the cognitive profiles in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the interactions between ADHD symptoms and the patients’ cognitive profiles have not been carefully examined through the network analysis. Here, in this study, we systematically analyzed the ADHD patents’ symptoms and cognitive profiles, and identified a set of interactions between ADHD symptoms and cognitive domains using the network approach.Patients and Methods: A total of 146 children with ADHD, 6 to 15 years of age, were included in the study. All participants were assessed by the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition (WISC-IV) test. The patients’ ADHD symptoms were evaluated by the Vanderbilt ADHD parent and teacher rating scales. GraphPad Prism 9.1.1 software was used for descriptive statistics and R 4.2.2 was used for network model construction.Results: The ADHD children in our sample showed lower scores for full scale intelligence quotient (FSIQ), verbal comprehension index (VCI), processing speed index (PSI) and working memory index (WMI). Among all the ADHD core symptoms and comorbid symptoms, the academic ability, inattention symptoms and mood disorder showed direct interaction with the cognitive domains of WISC-IV. In addition, oppositional defiant of the ADHD comorbid symptoms, and perceptual reasoning of the cognitive domains exhibited the highest strength centrality in the ADHD-Cognition network b