Hand Coordination Comparison in Adolescents with ADHD: A Case-Control Study

Introduction: Impairments in hand coordination and fine motor skills are common among children and adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), particularly when faced with complex and speedy tasks. The assessment of hand coordination and performance difficulties in adolescents with ADHD compared to healthy children is poorly understood. This study aimed to assess the level of hand coordination and performance difficulty of adolescents with ADHD in comparison with healthy controls. Material and Methods: This case-control study included 60 adolescents (30 with ADHD in the case group and 30 healthy individuals in the control group) recruited from patients attending specialized psychiatric clinics in Tabriz, Iran, in 2021. The Conner’s Parent Rating Scale-Revised (CPRS-R) questionnaire and semi-structured diagnostic interview (PL SADS-K) were used to diagnose ADHD. The Vienna Test System (VTS) was utilized to evaluate hand coordination performance. The study groups were compared regarding hand coordination, duration, difficulty level, and error rate. Results: No statistically significant differences were found in the mean age of the participants, the age of their parents, or any other demographic or baseline variables between the two groups ( P > .05). The difference between the mean times of hand coordination in the case group (31.4) and the healthy group (29.4) was not statistically significant ( P > .05). However, the case group exhibited a considerably higher mean and level of performance error than the control group (3.48 vs. 1.77), which was statistically significant ( P = .007). In terms of coordination difficulty, no statistically significant difference was found between the two groups (2.4 vs. 2.29). Conclusion: Findings showed no significant statistical differences between the two groups regarding the duration and difficulty of hand coordination tasks. However, the error duration was higher in adolescents with ADHD than in healthy adolescents. Results suggest the potential presence of errors in the hand coordination task among adolescents with ADHD.