Original title: Genetics of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
Studies of families, twins, and adopted children show that ADHD tends to run in families. Researchers estimate that genetic differences account for 74% of variation in ADHD risk across the population; this is called heritabilityA measure of how much differences in a trait across a population are linked to genetic differences., not the chance that ADHD in one person is genetic. Many common DNA variants each have a small effect, and rare DNA insertions or deletions also account for part of the inherited risk. The findings point to biological pathways that may help guide future treatment research.
Imagine a family recipe whose flavor depends on many small choices. No single pinch of spice changes it much, but lots of small choices can add up; a rare extra ingredient or omission can matter too. In this paper, the recipe’s flavor stands for ADHD risk, and the small choices and rare changes stand for different kinds of DNA variation that contribute to that risk.
This helps researchers understand why ADHD can run in families without being caused by one gene. The findings point to biological pathways that may eventually guide treatment development, though the abstract does not establish that they already change care.
The abstract does not identify specific genes or pathways, describe how the studies were conducted, or show that the findings have led to treatments. It says only that the implicated pathways may eventually have implications for treatment development.
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Genetics of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder — Stephen V. Faraone, Henrik Larsson — Molecular Psychiatry — doi:10.1038/s41380-018-0070-0
Abstract licence: CC BY
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper.