OBJECTIVETo detect unilateral spatial neglect phenomenon in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and to test the hypothesis that the phenomenon is associated with ADHD.

METHODSThirty two boys met with ADHD diagnostic criteria of DSM-IV(TM) (ADHD group) and the 32 healthy boys without ADHD as control group participated in this study. All the participants received the flowing managements. The spatially sensitive tools of the Line Bisection test and the Star Cancellation test and some general measures (non-spatial) were used to evaluate spatial attention.

RESULTS(1) The score of Line Bisection test of boys with ADHD was (-9.37 +/- 6.57), and that of the control group was (-5.46 +/- 4.69), the difference between two groups was significant (t = -2.735, P < 0.01); the difference in left side score of the Star Cancellation test was statistically significant (t = -3.78, P < 0.01) in the ADHD group versus the control group (11.44 +/- 5.55 vs. 16.34 +/- 4.82), and the left side score was also lower than the right side one (17.13 +/- 6.36), the difference was significant (t = -3.09, P < 0.01). (2) Both groups' scores of the Line Bisection test were biased to the right side of "0" value respectively (ADHD group: t = -8.064, P < 0.01; control group: t = -6.585, P < 0.01), each side of which was lower versus "expected value" "27/27" on right side (ADHD group: t = -8.78, P < 0.01; control group: t = -7.39, P < 0.01) and left side (ADHD group: t = 15.85, P < 0.01; control group: t = -12.52, P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONSThe results suggest that left spatial neglect may be a common general phenomenon of school age boys. Compared with normal children, children with ADHD may have obvious left spatial neglect, which suggest that there be a common neurophysiologic mechanism between left spatial bias and ADHD.