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Review
. 2023 Apr;64(4):506-532.
doi: 10.1111/jcpp.13696. Epub 2022 Oct 11.

Annual Research Review: Perspectives on progress in ADHD science - from characterization to cause

Edmund J S Sonuga-Barke  1   2 , Stephen P Becker  3   4 , Sven Bölte  5   6 , Francisco Xavier Castellanos  7   8 , Barbara Franke  9 , Jeffrey H Newcorn  10 , Joel T Nigg  11 , Luis Augusto Rohde  12   13 , Emily Simonoff  1
Affiliations
Review

Annual Research Review: Perspectives on progress in ADHD science - from characterization to cause

Edmund J S Sonuga-Barke et al. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2023 Apr.

Abstract

The science of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is motivated by a translational goal - the discovery and exploitation of knowledge about the nature of ADHD to the benefit of those individuals whose lives it affects. Over the past fifty years, scientific research has made enormous strides in characterizing the ADHD condition and in understanding its correlates and causes. However, the translation of these scientific insights into clinical benefits has been limited. In this review, we provide a selective and focused survey of the scientific field of ADHD, providing our personal perspectives on what constitutes the scientific consensus, important new leads to be highlighted, and the key outstanding questions to be addressed going forward. We cover two broad domains - clinical characterization and, risk factors, causal processes and neuro-biological pathways. Part one focuses on the developmental course of ADHD, co-occurring characteristics and conditions, and the functional impact of living with ADHD - including impairment, quality of life, and stigma. In part two, we explore genetic and environmental influences and putative mediating brain processes. In the final section, we reflect on the future of the ADHD construct in the light of cross-cutting scientific themes and recent conceptual reformulations that cast ADHD traits as part of a broader spectrum of neurodivergence.

Keywords: ADHD; brain imaging; development; genetics; stigma.

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Conflict of interest statement

SB discloses that he has in the last 3 years acted as an author, consultant or lecturer for Medice and Roche. He receives royalties for textbooks and diagnostic tools from Hogrefe, and Liber. Bolte is shareholder in SB Education/Psychological Consulting AB and NeuroSupportSolutions International AB. FXC is on the scientific advisory board of BOL Pharma, Israel and is Co-Chief Editor of Frontiers in Neuroimaging. JHN.: consultant/advisory board for Adlon Therapeutics, Arbor, Cingulate Therapeutics, Corium, Eisai, Ironshore, Lumos, Lundbeck, Medice, Myriad, NLS, OnDosis, Rhodes, Shire/Takeda, and Supernus; research support from Adlon, Otsuka, Shire, Supernus; honoraria for disease state lectures from Otsuka and Shire/Takeda, and served as a consultant for the US National Football League. ES-B speaker fee from Takeda and Medice. Consultancy Neurotech Solutions International; Research support QBTech. LAR has received grant or research support from, served as a consultant to, and served on the speakers’ bureau of Ache, Bial, Medice, Novartis/Sandoz, Pfizer/Upjohn, and Shire/Takeda in the last three years. The ADHD and Juvenile Bipolar Disorder Outpatient Programs chaired by Dr Rohde have received unrestricted educational and research support from the following pharmaceutical companies in the last three years: Novartis/Sandoz and Shire/Takeda. Dr Rohde has received authorship royalties from Oxford Press and ArtMed. ES Speaker fee for 24/7 Conference Evelina Children’s Hospital, London. SPB receives book royalties from Guilford Press. JN receives book royalties from Guilford Press. Other authors report no conflicts of interest. BF has received educational speaking fees from Medice.

Comment in

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