New research has emerged concerning the brain health of young people with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). According to a study, connections between brain networks that control functions like daydreaming, focus and internally directed thought may be slower to develop in people with ADHD. Three to five percent of American children are affected by ADHD.
The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, according to the Washington Post. The researchers were able to view participants' brains using function magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanners. They examined connectivity between networks in the brains of 275 young people with ADHD and 481 who did not have the condition, and found that connections in the former were not as developed between brain areas responsible for controlling internally directed thought and externally directed tasks.
These findings may help explain why individuals with ADHD experience difficulty focusing and have the tendency to become distracted, according to HealthDay News. During the study, researchers were able to see connection lags in specific areas of the brain.
"The results of this study set the stage for the next phase of this research, which is to examine individual components of the networks that have the maturational lag," said lead author Chandra Sripada, M.D., Ph.D., in a University of Michigan news release. "This study provides a coarse-grained understanding, and now we want to examine this phenomenon in a more fine-grained way that might lead us to a true biological marker, or neuromarker, for ADHD."
One of the goals behind the research is using brain scans to better diagnose and treat individuals with ADHD.
Click here to read more about our brain support supplements.