The Role of Gender in Familial Etiology of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

The aim of this study was to assess the influence of gender on familial transmission of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). 997 first degree relatives (554 parents, 443 siblings) of 277 probands with ADHD (aged 5-17 yrs) who were selected using con-venience sampling from among patients referred to the clinic of child psychiatry at Dr. Sheikh Hospital in the city ofMashad, were studied. The diagnosis of ADHD for patients was made by clinical interview by a psychiatrist and Kiddie-Scheduale for Affective Disorders & Schizo- phrenia (K-SADS), and screening for the presence of ADHD in the family members of the probands was done by psychiatric clinical interview as well as K-SADS and Wender diagnostic tests. Our findings showed no gender differences in the prevalence of ADHD in the relatives of girls and boys with ADHD. This study showed that gender is not a genetic-familial risk factor for developing ADHD and the familial aggregation of ADHD.