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Heart rate variability in children and adolescents with autism, ADHD and co-occurring autism and ADHD, during passive and active experimental conditions

Heart rate variability in children and adolescents with autism, ADHD and co-occurring autism and ADHD, during passive and active experimental conditions
Heart rate variability in children and adolescents with autism, ADHD and co-occurring autism and ADHD, during passive and active experimental conditions
Despite overlaps in clinical symptomatology, autism and ADHD may be associated with opposite autonomic arousal profiles which might partly explain altered cognitive and global functioning. We investigated autonomic arousal in 106 children/adolescents with autism, ADHD, co-occurring autism/ADHD, and neurotypical controls. Heart rate variability was recorded during resting-state, a ‘passive’ auditory oddball task and an ‘active’ response conflict task. Autistic children showed hyper-arousal during the active task, while those with ADHD showed hypo-arousal during resting-state and the passive task. Irrespective of diagnosis, children characterised by hyper-arousal showed more severe autistic symptomatology, increased anxiety and reduced global functioning than those displaying hypo-arousal, suggesting the importance of considering individual autonomic arousal profiles for differential diagnosis of autism/ADHD and when developing personalised interventions.
ADHD, Autism, Autonomic nervous system, Heart rate variability, Comorbidity, Cognitive function
0162-3257
4679-4691
Bellato, Alessio
0ee4c34f-3850-4883-8b82-5717b74990f7
Arora, Iti
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Kochhar, Puja
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Ropar, Danielle
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Hollis, Chris
467c11b0-1ef5-4456-8101-cdc7e451fa33
Groom, Madeleine J.
0950cda7-451f-40c3-a4e2-e6df8629de55
Bellato, Alessio
0ee4c34f-3850-4883-8b82-5717b74990f7
Arora, Iti
0e82c245-276b-4fe7-861b-b360a177297e
Kochhar, Puja
79055bcb-b251-409a-87ac-c8d62a5e4faa
Ropar, Danielle
9b2bfacc-9047-4961-9cf3-874993e7c021
Hollis, Chris
467c11b0-1ef5-4456-8101-cdc7e451fa33
Groom, Madeleine J.
0950cda7-451f-40c3-a4e2-e6df8629de55

Bellato, Alessio, Arora, Iti, Kochhar, Puja, Ropar, Danielle, Hollis, Chris and Groom, Madeleine J. (2022) Heart rate variability in children and adolescents with autism, ADHD and co-occurring autism and ADHD, during passive and active experimental conditions. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 52 (11), 4679-4691. (doi:10.1007/s10803-021-05244-w).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Despite overlaps in clinical symptomatology, autism and ADHD may be associated with opposite autonomic arousal profiles which might partly explain altered cognitive and global functioning. We investigated autonomic arousal in 106 children/adolescents with autism, ADHD, co-occurring autism/ADHD, and neurotypical controls. Heart rate variability was recorded during resting-state, a ‘passive’ auditory oddball task and an ‘active’ response conflict task. Autistic children showed hyper-arousal during the active task, while those with ADHD showed hypo-arousal during resting-state and the passive task. Irrespective of diagnosis, children characterised by hyper-arousal showed more severe autistic symptomatology, increased anxiety and reduced global functioning than those displaying hypo-arousal, suggesting the importance of considering individual autonomic arousal profiles for differential diagnosis of autism/ADHD and when developing personalised interventions.

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Accepted/In Press date: 13 August 2021
e-pub ahead of print date: 30 November 2022
Keywords: ADHD, Autism, Autonomic nervous system, Heart rate variability, Comorbidity, Cognitive function

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 482009
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/482009
ISSN: 0162-3257
PURE UUID: 80ff59be-4f9b-4551-a1eb-ce52a642c564
ORCID for Alessio Bellato: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-5330-6773

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Date deposited: 15 Sep 2023 16:32
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 04:16

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Contributors

Author: Alessio Bellato ORCID iD
Author: Iti Arora
Author: Puja Kochhar
Author: Danielle Ropar
Author: Chris Hollis
Author: Madeleine J. Groom

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