Autism, ADHD and OCD have historically been studied as separate disorders, but researchers in Toronto found similarities in brain impairments in children with the disorders. The results of a study that investigated this was published this month in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

“Finding similar changes in [brain] wiring across autism, ADHD and OCD suggests that perhaps some of the same treatments could have relevance across different neurodevelopmental conditions,” Dr. Stephanie Ameis, first author of the study, told HCB News.

For the study, the researchers used MR brain imaging to assess white matter in 200 children with autism, ADHD, OCD or no diagnosis. The brain’s white matter is comprised of bundles of nerve fibers that enable communication between different brain regions.
The research revealed impairments in white matter in the main tract that connects the right and left hemispheres of the brain in children with autism, ADHD and OCD, compared to the control group. That white matter tract, the corpus callosum, is the largest in the brain and one of the first to develop.

The study also found that children with autism and ADHD have more severe impairments that affect more of the brain’s white matter than those with OCD. That may explain why autism and ADHD usually manifest at a much younger age than OCD.

“Our study provides hope that by using newer research approaches that look at different but related conditions, and also looking at behaviors across a spectrum, we are getting closer to understanding the underlying biology of these conditions,” said Ameis.

This is the first time that a study found similarities in brain wiring among children with autism, ADHD and OCD. Previous studies have found that some of the gene variations that are linked to autism are also linked to ADHD and that there is overlap in the clinical symptoms present in each condition.

All three of these disorders are currently diagnosed based on the presence of clinical symptoms. Clinicians are not yet able to use brain imaging to better understand the specific biology behind a child’s particular difficulties or use that type of information to guide treatment, said Ameis.

“Perhaps our work may provide a clue that some day we may be able to provide a clinical diagnosis to a child, and then use brain imaging to examine what the particular changes in brain wiring are for that child, and based on that information suggest a specific treatment pathway that we know can positively target that wiring,” she added.

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