Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children with early stages of chronic kidney disease

Background: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is the most common childhood neurological disorder. This disorder is more prevalent in some chronic diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate ADHD in children with early stages of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and to compare it with healthy children. Methods: Seventy five 5-16-year-old children with early stages of CKD (stage 1, 2 and 3) and 75 healthy children without CKD were included in this case – control study as case and control groups, respectively. The participants were selected from those children who were referred to the pediatric clinic of Amir Kabir Hospital of Arak (Iran) in the form of simple probability and based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. ADHD was diagnosed using Conner's Parent Rating Scale – 48 (CPRS-48) and DSM-IV criteria and was confirmed by a psychologist consultant. Data were analyzed by Binomial test in SPSS18. Results: ADHD inattentive type was observed in 8 cases (10.6%) with CKD and 2 controls (2.6%) (p= 0.109). Moreover, in the case and control groups, 7 (9.3%) and 6 (8%) children were affected by ADHD hyperactiveimpulsive type (p= 0.997), and 9 (12%) and 12 (16%) children were affected by ADHD mixed type (p= 0.664), respectively. Conclusion: No differences were found between the prevalence of ADHD in the children with early stages of CKD and the control group. However, due to the importance of the relationships between different types of psychiatric disorders and CKD and lack of enough evidence concerning the relationship between ADHD and different stages of CKD in children, conducting further studies in this field is recommended.