Top

Published in:

01-03-2016 | Editorial

Review: changing (shared) heritability of ASD and ADHD across the lifespan

Authors: Nanda N. J. Rommelse, Catharina A. Hartman

Published in: European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry | Issue 3/2016

Excerpt

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) frequently co-occur. In clinical practice, we daily struggle deciding if one, or the other, or both disorders, best describe the child’s problems. A strong body of literature has convincingly shown that large overlap exists regarding genetic factors [6, 11, 26, 29]. However, this genetic overlap may significantly depend on age. It is well known that genetic influences on behavior are not at all constant during development and continuously co-act and interact with environmental factors influencing behavioral functioning [1, 30]. For example, increasing heritability can result from amplification, whereby early genetic influences become stronger across time. As a second example, genetic influences may be stable; yet novel genetic influences may emerge with time while early genetic influences may decrease [2]. Despite everyone’s awareness of change in the (genetic) mechanisms underlying the development of an individual until elderly age in typical development, studies on neurodevelopmental disorders like ADHD and ASD have been strongly focused on childhood. The age of onset for ASD and ADHD is nearly always in childhood ([18]; but see [17]), which is the likely reason for this bias. However, given that it is already well known that developmental changes take place in both ADHD and ASD symptom domains separately, a focus beyond childhood is needed to further understand the potentially changing etiology of ADHD–ASD co-occurrence. …

Bergen SE, Gardner CO, Kendler KS (2007) Age-related changes in heritability of behavioral phenotypes over adolescence and young adulthood: a meta-analysis. Twin Res Hum Genet 10:423–433CrossRefPubMed

Briley DA, Tucker-Drob EM (2013) Explaining the increasing heritability of cognitive ability across development: a meta-analysis of longitudinal twin and adoption studies. Psychol Sci 24:1704–1713PubMedCentralCrossRefPubMed

Chang Z, Lichtenstein P, Asherson PJ, Larsson H (2013) Developmental twin study of attention problems: high heritabilities throughout development. JAMA Psychiatry 70(3):311–318CrossRefPubMed

Constantino JN, Abbacchi AM, Lavesser PD, Reed H, Givens L, Chiang L, Gray T, Gross M, Zhang Y, Todd RD (2009) Developmental course of autistic social impairment in males. Dev Psychopathol 21(1):127–138PubMedCentralCrossRefPubMed

Constantino JN, Hudziak JJ, Todd RD (2003) Deficits in reciprocal social behavior in male twins: evidence for a genetically independent domain of psychopathology. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2003(42):458–467CrossRef

Doherty JL, Owen MJ (2014) Genomic insights into the overlap between psychiatric disorders: implications for research and clinical practice. Genome Med 2014(6):29CrossRef

Elia J, Arcos-Burgos M, Bolton KL, Ambrosini PJ, Berrettini W, Muenke M (2009) ADHD latent class clusters: DSM-IV subtypes and comorbidity. Psychiatry Res 170(2–3):192–198PubMedCentralCrossRefPubMed

Franke B, Faraone SV, Asherson P, Buitelaar J, Bau CH, Ramos-Quiroga JA, Mick E, Grevet EH, Johansson S, Haavik J, Lesch KP, Cormand B, Reif A, International Multicentre persistent ADHD Collaboration (2012) The genetics of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder in adults, a review. Mol Psychiatry 17(10):960–987PubMedCentralCrossRefPubMed

Greven CU, Asherson P, Rijsdijk FV, Plomin R (2011) A longitudinal twin study on the association between inattentive and hyperactive-impulsive ADHD symptoms. J Abnorm Child Psychol 39(5):623–632CrossRefPubMed

10.

Holmboe K, Rijsdijk FV, Hallett V, Happé F, Plomin R, Ronald A (2014) Strong genetic influences on the stability of autistic traits in childhood. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 53(2):221–230PubMedCentralCrossRefPubMed

11.

Johnson MH, Gliga T, Jones E, Charman T (2015) Annual research review: infant development, autism, and ADHD—early pathways to emerging disorders. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 56(3):228–247CrossRefPubMed

12.

Kan KJ, Dolan CV, Nivard MG, Middeldorp CM, van Beijsterveldt CE, Willemsen G, Boomsma DI (2013) Genetic and environmental stability in attention problems across the lifespan: evidence from the Netherlands twin register. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 52(1):12–25CrossRefPubMed

13.

Larsson JO, Larsson H, Lichtenstein P (2004) Genetic and environmental contributions to stability and change of ADHD symptoms between 8 and 13 years of age: a longitudinal twin study. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 43(10):1267–1275CrossRefPubMed

14.

Larsson H, Dilshad R, Lichtenstein P, Barker ED (2011) Developmental trajectories of DSM-IV symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: genetic effects, family risk and associated psychopathology. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 52(9):954–963CrossRefPubMed

15.

Lichtenstein P, Carlström E, Råstam M, Gillberg C, Anckarsäter H (2010) The genetics of autism spectrum disorders and related neuropsychiatric disorders in childhood. Am J Psychiatry 2010(167):1357–1363CrossRef

16.

Lundström S, Chang Z, Kerekes N, Gumpert CH, Råstam M, Gillberg C, Lichtenstein P, Anckarsäter H (2011) Autistic-like traits and their association with mental health problems in two nationwide twin cohorts of children and adults. Psychol Med 41(11):2423–2433CrossRefPubMed

17.

Moffitt TE, Houts R, Asherson P, Belsky DW, Corcoran DL, Hammerle M, Harrington H, Hogan S, Meier MH, Polanczyk GV, Poulton R, Ramrakha S, Sugden K, Williams B, Rohde LA, Caspi A (2015) Is adult ADHD a childhood-onset neurodevelopmental disorder? Evidence from a Four-Decade Longitudinal Cohort Study. Am J Psychiatry 172(10):967–977CrossRefPubMed

18.

Mohr Jensen C, Steinhausen HC (2015) Comorbid mental disorders in children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in a large nationwide study. Atten Defic Hyperact Disord 7(1):27–38

19.

Pingault JB, Viding E, Galéra C, Greven CU, Zheng Y, Plomin R, Rijsdijk F (2015) Genetic and environmental influences on the developmental course of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms from childhood to adolescence. JAMA Psychiatry 72(7):651–658CrossRefPubMed

20.

Pinto R, Rijsdijk F, Ronald A, Asherson P, Kuntsi J (2015) The genetic overlap of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and autistic-like traits: an investigation of individual symptom scales and cognitive markers. J Abnorm Child Psychol (epub ahead of print)

21.

Polderman TJ, Hoekstra RA, Posthuma D, Larsson H (2014) The co-occurrence of autistic and ADHD dimensions in adults: an etiological study in 17,770 twins. Transl Psychiatry 2014(4):e435CrossRef

22.

Polderman TJ, Hoekstra RA, Vinkhuyzen AA, Sullivan PF, van der Sluis S, Posthuma D (2013) Attentional switching forms a genetic link between attention problems and autistic traits in adults. Psychol Med 43(9):1985–1996PubMedCentralCrossRefPubMed

23.

Reiersen AM, Constantino JN, Volk HE, Todd RD (2007) Autistic traits in a population-based ADHD twin sample. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 48(5):464–472CrossRefPubMed

24.

Reiersen AM, Constantino JN, Grimmer M, Martin NG, Todd RD (2008) Evidence for shared genetic influences on self-reported ADHD and autistic symptoms in young adult Australian twins. Twin Res Hum Genet 11(6):579–585PubMedCentralCrossRefPubMed

25.

Robbers SC, van Oort FV, Polderman TJ, Bartels M, Boomsma DI, Verhulst FC, Lubke GH, Huizink AC (2011) Trajectories of CBCL attention problems in childhood. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 20(8):419–427PubMedCentralCrossRefPubMed

26.

Rommelse NN, Franke B, Geurts H, Hartman CA, Buitelaar JK (2010) Shared heritability of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and autism spectrum disorder. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 19:281–295PubMedCentralCrossRefPubMed

27.

Ronald A, Edelson L, Asherson P, Saudino K (2010) Exploring the relationship between autistic-like traits and ADHD behaviors in early childhood: findings from a community twin study of 2-year-olds. J Abnorm Child Psychol 38:185–196PubMedCentralCrossRefPubMed

28.

Ronald A, Happé F, Plomin R (2008) A twin study investigating the genetic and environmental aetiologies of parent, teacher and child ratings of autistic-like traits and their overlap. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 17:473–483CrossRefPubMed

29.

Ronald A, Hoekstra RA (2011) Autism spectrum disorders and autistic traits: a decade of new twin studies. Am J Med Gen B 156:255–274CrossRef

30.

Rutter M, Moffitt TE, Caspi A (2006) Gene-environment interplay and psychopathology: multiple varieties but real effects. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 47:226–261CrossRefPubMed

31.

Taylor MJ, Charman T, Robinson EB, Plomin R, Happé F, Asherson P, Ronald A (2013) Developmental associations between traits of autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: a genetically informative, longitudinal twin study. Psychol Med 43(8):1735–1746CrossRefPubMed

32.

Taylor MJ, Charman T, Ronald A (2015) Where are the strongest associations between autistic traits and traits of ADHD? Evidence from a community-based twin study. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 24(9):1129–1138PubMedCentralCrossRefPubMed

33.

Treur JL, Willemsen G, Bartels M, Geels LM, van Beek JH, Huppertz C, van Beijsterveldt CE, Boomsma DI, Vink JM (2015) Smoking during adolescence as a risk factor for attention problems. Biol Psychiatry 78(9):656–663CrossRefPubMed

Title: Review: changing (shared) heritability of ASD and ADHD across the lifespan
Authors: Nanda N. J. Rommelse
Catharina A. Hartman
Publication date: 01-03-2016
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in: European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry / Issue 3/2016
Print ISSN: 1018-8827
Electronic ISSN: 1435-165X
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-016-0830-9

At a glance: The STEP trials

Springer Medicine

Review: changing (shared) heritability of ASD and ADHD across the lifespan

Excerpt

At a glance: The STEP trials

Springer Medicine

Excerpt

Please log in to get access to this content

Other articles of this Issue 3/2016

Decreasing ADHD phenotypic heterogeneity: searching for neurobiological underpinnings of the restrictive inattentive phenotype

Health-related quality of life of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder versus children with diabetes and healthy controls

Early interventions for youths at high risk for bipolar disorder: a developmental approach

Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder in ICD-11: a new disorder or ODD with a specifier for chronic irritability?

Emotional face recognition in adolescent suicide attempters and adolescents engaging in non-suicidal self-injury

Variation in psychosocial influences according to the dimensions and content of children’s unusual experiences: potential routes for the development of targeted interventions