Researchers have found a link between attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and the risk of suffering cognitive decline and developing Alzheimer’s disease.
- There are 2 to 3 boys with ADHD for every girl, according to Health Insurance.
- ADHD treatment always begins with non-drug measures.
- If they are not enough, psychostimulant drugs, which have the role of stimulating the central nervous system, can be prescribed.
Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) make up 3-5% of the school population and are predominantly boys, according to health insurance. ADHD is characterized by attention deficit, motor hyperactivity and impulsivity that appear during childhood. Currently, scientists do not know precisely the causes of its development.
A link between the polygenic risk of ADHD and cognitive decline
But in the long term, ADHD could have consequences. Indeed, according to a study published in the journal Molecular Psychiatrythis disorder could increase the risk of cognitive decline and of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
Genetic and environmental factors can cause ADHD and also lead to slight changes in the neurons that control cognitive, motivational and emotional processes. Therebyto conduct their study, the researchers studied a database of genetic predispositions to ADHD from 212 adults, aged 55 to 90, who had no cognitive impairment at baseline.
Armed with this information, they were able to fix the polygenic risk (which is due to several genes) of each adult to have ADHD. The aim was to see whether or not it was associated with cognitive decline and the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Result: the higher the polygenic risk, the more adults – once older – were likely to suffer from cognitive decline and develop Alzheimer’s disease.
Increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease with beta-amyloid proteins
In Alzheimer’s disease, amyloid plaques are substances that form around neurons and prevent them, among other things, from functioning properly. Those are the beta-amyloid proteins that cause these amyloid plaques. During their work, the researchers also discovered that the polygenic risk of developing ADHD combined with the deposition of beta-amyloid proteins in the brain had a greater impact on cognitive decline than when these two factors were taken separately. Simply put, beta-amyloid and ADHD together lead to greater cognitive decline.
Another finding: a polygenic risk of having greater ADHD was also associated with higher levels of Tau protein in the cerebrospinal fluid. In Alzheimer’s disease, neurofibrillary degeneration is due to this Tau protein. This is naturally present in the body, but in patients with this pathology, this protein is modified. Thus, it disorganizes the structure of neurons and produces neurofibrillary degeneration which leads to their death. Here, the researchers therefore demonstrated that ADHD was associated with a greater number of Tau proteins, which may also explain the link with Alzheimer’s disease.
In the future, the researchers plan to continue their research by studying data from more patients. They also want to determine whether ADHD treatment can reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.