Abstract
Background
In addition to the core symptoms, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
is associated with poor emotion regulation. There is some evidence that children and
young adults with ADHD have lower omega-3 levels and that supplementation with omega-3
can improve both ADHD and affective symptoms. We therefore investigated differences
between ADHD and non-ADHD children in omega-3/6 fatty acid plasma levels and the relationship
between those indices and emotion-elicited event-related potentials (ERPs).
Methods
Children/adolescents with (n=31) and without ADHD (n=32) were compared in their plasma omega-3/6 indices and corresponding ERPs during
an emotion processing task.
Results
Children with ADHD had lower mean omega-3/6 and ERP abnormalities in emotion processing,
independent of emotional valence relative to control children. ERP abnormalities were
significantly associated with lower omega-3 levels in the ADHD group.
Conclusions
The findings reveal for the first time that lower omega-3 fatty acids are associated
with impaired emotion processing in ADHD children.
Abbreviations:
ERPs (event-related potentials), LC-PUFA (long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids), EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid), DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), AA (arachidonic acid), ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder)Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 08, 2013
Accepted:
March 23,
2013
Received in revised form:
March 21,
2013
Received:
January 21,
2013
Identification
Copyright
© 2013 Elsevier Ltd. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
