Monday, August 15, 2011

ADHD Genetic Inheritance Patterns

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) appears to involve a large number of rare genetic variants rather than a few common causal genes, much as autism and schizophrenia do, and some of those rare genetic variants appear to overlap between ADHD and a fair number of other conditions. Autism is comordbid with ADHD about 75% of the time.

But, ADHD without a comorbid condition is predominantly familial in inheritance, rather than mostly arising from new mutations appearing for the first time in the person with that condition, reflecting its less genetic fitness impairing character.

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