Altered intrinsic connectivity in default mode and somatomotor networks in children and adolescents with ADHD: a neuroimaging meta-analysis.
Shenghao Shi, Yu Xu, Tao Ding et al.
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In 30 seconds
This meta-analysis examined resting-state functional connectivity in children and adolescents with ADHD compared with typically developing peers. It included 36 studies involving 1,867 participants (989 with ADHD and 878 typically developing), analysed separately by seed-based and non-seed-based methods. Seed-based analyses found reduced connectivity between the Default Mode and Dorsal Attention Networks and between the Somatomotor and Ventral Attention Networks in ADHD. Non-seed-based analyses identified no significant alterations. The findings suggest that some network-level differences in ADHD are detectable in seed-based studies, while results were not consistent across analytic approaches.
Key findings
- Across 20 seed-based studies, ADHD was associated with reduced connectivity between the Default Mode and Dorsal Attention Networks.
- Seed-based analyses also found reduced connectivity between the Somatomotor and Ventral Attention Networks.
- The 16 non-seed-based studies showed no significant connectivity alterations.
Why it matters
The results focus attention on interactions between brain networks, rather than isolated regions, as a possible neural correlate of attentional and cognitive difficulties in young people with ADHD. The differing findings by analytic method also underscore that conclusions about connectivity depend on how it is measured and analysed.
What to keep in mind
Findings differed between seed-based and non-seed-based analyses, limiting consistency across methods. The abstract does not report effect sizes for the identified connectivity differences.