A twin study of the etiology of comorbidity: attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and dyslexia

J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 1992 Mar;31(2):343-8. doi: 10.1097/00004583-199203000-00024.

Abstract

Monozygotic and dizygotic twin pairs, in which at least one member of each pair is reading disabled (RD), were assessed for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Within pair cross-concordances of the RD and ADHD qualitative diagnoses for monozygotic twins were larger than for dizygotic twins, although not significantly so (p less than 0.10). Thus, the data suggest that RD and ADHD may be primarily genetically independent. However, trends in the data and subtype analyses suggest that in some cases RD and ADHD may occur together because of a shared genetic etiology and that a genetically mediated comorbid subtype may exist.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Achievement
  • Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / diagnosis
  • Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / genetics*
  • Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / psychology
  • Child
  • Diagnosis, Differential
  • Diseases in Twins / genetics*
  • Diseases in Twins / psychology
  • Dyslexia / diagnosis
  • Dyslexia / genetics*
  • Dyslexia / psychology
  • Humans
  • Personality Assessment
  • Twins, Dizygotic / genetics
  • Twins, Dizygotic / psychology
  • Twins, Monozygotic / genetics
  • Twins, Monozygotic / psychology