The Application of P300 in the Clinical Diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

GUAN HY¹, ZAN SL², Kang YZ³

¹ Capital Institute of Pediatrics, Beijing, P.R. China

^2,3 China Medical University No.2 Clinical College, Shenyang, China

Objective: Although attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most common childhood behavior disorder, it is diagnosed solely on the basis of patterns of observable behavior. There are no reliable physiological and biochemical measures that can contribute to more objective diagnosis. The aim of this study is to study the application of P300 in the clinical diagnosis of ADHD.

Methods: 30 children with ADHD and 45 normal children aged

8.5-11.5 years were tested with Amplaid MK-15 electrophysiological diagnostic system. Auditory ‘Oddball’ paradigm was used in the P300 recordings. We analyzed the amplitudes and latencies of N1, P2, N2, P3 responses to the rare stimuli and N1, P2, N2 responses to the frequent stimuli in the two groups.

Results: 1) The P300 latency in the case group was significant longer than that in the control group (p<0.01). 2) The clinical diagnostic value of P300 latency was >370ms. Its suspicious diagnostic range was 350ms-370ms. Its specialty was 84.5% and sensitivity was 66.7%.

Conclusion: P300 could be used to evaluate the cognitive dysfunction in children with ADHD and P300 latency measures might help with the clinical diagnosis of ADHD in children.

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