Connectivity differences between adult male and female patients with attention deifcit hyperactivity disorder according to resting-state functional MRI

Attention deifcit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a pervasive psychiatric disorder that affects both chil-dren and adults. Adult male and female patients with ADHD are differentially affected, but few studies have explored the differences. The purpose of this study was to quantify differences between adult male and female patients with ADHD based on neuroimaging and connectivity analysis. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans were obtained and preprocessed in 82 patients. Group-wise differences between male and female patients were quantiifed using degree centrality for different brain regions. The medial-, middle-, and inferior-frontal gyrus, superior parietal lobule, precuneus, supramarginal gyrus, superior- and middle-temporal gyrus, middle occipital gyrus, and cuneus were identiifed as regions with signiifcant group-wise differences. The identiifed regions were correlated with clinical scores relfecting de-pression and anxiety and signiifcant correlations were found. Adult ADHD patients exhibit different levels of depression and anxiety depending on sex, and our study provides insight into how changes in brain cir-cuitry might differentially impact male and female ADHD patients.