Heart Rate Variability in Children and Adolescents with Autism, ADHD and Co-occurring Autism and ADHD, During Passive and Active Experimental Conditions

Bellato, Alessio; Arora, Iti; Kochhar, Puja; Ropar, Danielle; Hollis, Chris; Groom, Madeleine J.

doi:10.1007/s10803-021-05244-w

Heart Rate Variability in Children and Adolescents with Autism, ADHD and Co-occurring Autism and ADHD, During Passive and Active Experimental Conditions

Bellato, Alessio; Arora, Iti; Kochhar, Puja; Ropar, Danielle; Hollis, Chris; Groom, Madeleine J.

Authors

Alessio Bellato

Iti Arora

Puja Kochhar

DANIELLE ROPAR DANIELLE.ROPAR@NOTTINGHAM.AC.UK
Professor of Psychology

CHRIS HOLLIS chris.hollis@nottingham.ac.uk
Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Digital Mental Health

Dr MADDIE GROOM maddie.groom@nottingham.ac.uk
Professor of Neurodevelopmental Conditions

Abstract

Despite overlaps in clinical symptomatology, autism and ADHD may be associated with opposite autonomic arousal profiles which might partly explain altered cognitive and global functioning. We investigated autonomic arousal in 106 children/adolescents with autism, ADHD, co-occurring autism/ADHD, and neurotypical controls. Heart rate variability was recorded during resting-state, a ‘passive’ auditory oddball task and an ‘active’ response conflict task. Autistic children showed hyper-arousal during the active task, while those with ADHD showed hypo-arousal during resting-state and the passive task. Irrespective of diagnosis, children characterised by hyper-arousal showed more severe autistic symptomatology, increased anxiety and reduced global functioning than those displaying hypo-arousal, suggesting the importance of considering individual autonomic arousal profiles for differential diagnosis of autism/ADHD and when developing personalised interventions.

Citation

Bellato, A., Arora, I., Kochhar, P., Ropar, D., Hollis, C., & Groom, M. J. (2022). Heart Rate Variability in Children and Adolescents with Autism, ADHD and Co-occurring Autism and ADHD, During Passive and Active Experimental Conditions. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 52, 4679-4691. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05244-w

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Aug 13, 2021
Online Publication Date	Oct 30, 2021
Publication Date	2022-11
Deposit Date	Oct 28, 2021
Publicly Available Date	Nov 11, 2021
Journal	Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
Print ISSN	0162-3257
Electronic ISSN	1573-3432
Publisher	Springer Verlag
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	52
Pages	4679-4691
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05244-w
Keywords	Developmental and Educational Psychology
Public URL	https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/6542226
Publisher URL	https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10803-021-05244-w