Characteristics and relationship between the development of gross motor skills and executive function in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder / 中国康复理论与实践

ObjectiveTo investigate the developmental characteristics of gross motor skills and executive functions, and the correlation between them in school-age children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). MethodsFrom November, 2020 to May, 2021, 90 children with ADHD were recruited from Peking University Sixth Hospital and Beijing Haidian Wanquan Primary School, and other 90 children with normal development from this primary school were recruited matched their age and gender. Gross motor skills were assessed with the Test of Gross Motor Development in Children, Third Edition (TGMD-3), and inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility were assessed with Stroop Color Words Test (SCWT), Rey-Osterrich Complex Figure Test (ROCFT) and Trail Making Test (TMT), respectively. ResultsThe TGMD-3 score was significantly lower in children with ADHD than in normal children (t = -6.275, P < 0.001), while the test results of SCWT, ROCFT and TMT were worse (|t| ≥ 1.986, P ≤ 0.05). The TGMD-3 score of children with ADHD was negatively correlated with the word sense reaction time (r = -0.261), the number of word sense errors (r = -0.404) and the number of color errors (r = -0.326) (P < 0.05), positively correlated with the delayed structural memory scores (r = 0.228) (P < 0.05), and negatively correlated with the TMT-A reaction time (r = -0.255), the number of TMT-A errors (r = -0.329), TMT-B reaction time (r = -0.214) and the number of TMT-B errors (r = -0.474) (P < 0.05). Stratified linear regression analyses showed that the TGMD-3 score of children with ADHD was significant only in predicting test results for inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility (P < 0.05), with explanations of 8.7% and 22.5%, respectively. ConclusionDevelopments of both gross motor skills and executive function delay in children with ADHD, and there is a relation between them, especially the level of gross motor skills relating to the developments of inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility.

Sex difference of fine motor skills of school-age children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder / 中国康复理论与实践

ObjectiveTo explore the characteristics of fine motor skills of school-age children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in different sexes. MethodsFrom April, 2021 to April, 2023, 66 ADHD children from grades one to four in Beijing Haidian Wanquan Primary School were screened by psychiatrists, and other 69 ADHD children were recruited from hospitals and patient groups of WeChat, accounting to 135 ADHD children. Meanwhile, a total of 135 typically developed (TD) children matched with sex and age (< 0.5 year) were recruited from the same primary school as controls. They were assessed with Movement Assessment Battery for Children (MABC-2) four subtests of manual dexterit. ResultsAfter controlling age, the subtest scores and the total score of fine motor of MABC-2 were less in ADHD boys and girls than in the TD boys and girls (P < 0.05). The main effect of sex was significant on the subtest scores and the total score of fine motor for ADHD children (F > 5.133, P < 0.05), and they were less in the boy than in the girls (P < 0.05). ConclusionThe development of fine motor delays in school-aged ADHD children, especially for the boys.