Motor Abnormalities in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Autism Spectrum Disorder Are Associated With Regional Grey Matter Volumes

Abstract

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are associated with motor impairments, with some children holding a comorbid diagnosis of Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). However, DCD is underdiagnosed in these populations and the volume abnormalities that contribute to explaining these motor impairments are poorly understood. In this study, motor abilities as measured by the Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire (DCDQ) were compared between children with ADHD, children with ASD and typically developing (TD) children, aged 8-12 years old. Additionally, the association between the DCDQ scores (general coordination, fine motor/handwriting, control during movement, total) and regional volume abnormalities were explored in 6 regions of interest (pre-central gyrus, post-central gyrus, inferior parietal cortex, superior frontal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, medial frontal gyrus), within each group and across all participants. Children with ASD and children with ADHD showed impaired motor abilities in all the DCDQ-derived scores compared to TD children. Additionally, most children with ASD or ADHD had an indication or suspicion of DCD. Within the ASD group, coordination abilities were associated with the volume of the right medial frontal gyrus, and within the ADHD group, the total DCDQ score was associated with the volume of the right superior frontal gyrus. This study underlines the importance of routinely checking motor abilities in populations with ASD or ADHD in clinical practise and contributes to the understanding of structural abnormalities subtending motor impairments in these disorders.

Keywords: DCDQ; attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder; autism spectrum disorder; motor performance; voxel-based morphometry.

Figure 1

Correlation between DCDQ-FC scores and regional grey matter volumes. (A) Significant negative correlation between the General Coordination score and GMV in the right medial frontal gyrus within the ASD group (x = 6, y = 27, z = 46) at p^SVC−FWE < 0.004; (B) Significant negative correlation between the Total score and GMV in the right superior frontal gyrus within the ADHD group (x = 18, y = 68, z = 24) at p^SVC−FWE < 0.05. FWE, Family-Wise Error.