Abstract
Objective: Six to 12 year old children with severe ADHD, combined type, and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) are common in Child Mental Health Services. These children often have the further comorbid problem of anxiety. However, clinical correlates of this comorbid condition are unclear.
Method: We completed a cross-sectional study of 46 stimulant medication naïve children with ADHD, combined type, and ODD, examining the association of child only, parent only, and clinician reports of anxiety with NDDs, using separate logistic and linear regression analyses.
Results: The child only and clinician reports of anxiety were associated with increased NDDs, while the parent only reports were not.
Conclusions: The recognition of anxiety and its management in primary school-aged children with ADHD, combined type, and ODD is generally poorly understood. The dissonance between the association of child only and parent only reports of anxiety with increased NDDs, emphasises the importance of careful and thorough assessment of the child's perspective. The characteristics of child only reports of anxiety and its association with neurodevelopmental deficits require further careful longitudinal study of community-derived samples. Possible biological implications are noted.