Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy of English-Speaking Adults With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder During a Verbal Fluency Task
Syeda Fabeha Husain, Soon Kiat Chiang, Aveline Ajalan Vasu, Claire P. Goh, Roger S. McIntyre, Tong Boon Tang, Bach Xuan Tran, Trang H.T. Dang, Tham Thi Nguyen, Roger Ho, Cyrus S. H. Ho
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) provides direct and quantitative assessment of cortical hemodynamic response. It has been used to identify neurophysiological alterations in medication-naïve adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Hence, this study aimed to distinguish both medication-naïve and medicated adults with ADHD from healthy controls (HC). METHOD: 75 HCs, 75 medication-naïve, and 45 medicated patients took part in this study. fNIRS signals during a verbal fluency task (VFT) were acquired using a 52-channel system and relative oxy-hemoglobin changes in the prefrontal cortex were quantified. RESULTS: Prefrontal cortex hemodynamic response was lower in patients than HCs (p ≤ ≤.001). Medication-naïve and medicated patients did not differ in hemodynamic response or symptom severity (p > .05). fNIRS measurements were not associated with any clinical variables (p > .05). 75.8% patients and 76% HCs were correctly classified using hemodynamic response. CONCLUSION: fNIRS may be a potential diagnostic tool for adult ADHD. These findings need to be replicated in larger validation studies.