Impairments in error processing and their association with ADHD symptoms in individuals born preterm.

Preterm birth is associated with heightened risk for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)-like symptoms and neurocognitive impairments, including impairments in performance monitoring. Here, we investigate the cognitive and neurophysiological processes from a performance-monitoring task in preterm-born adolescents and examine whether these processes in preterm-born adolescents reflect identical neurophysiological impairments to those observed in term-born adolescents with ADHD. We compared 186 preterm-born individuals to 69 term-born individuals with ADHD and 135 term-born controls on cognitive-performance measures and event-related potentials (ERPs) of conflict monitoring (N2) and error processing (ERN, Pe) from a flanker task. Preterm-born adolescents demonstrated reduced N2, ERN and Pe amplitudes, compared to controls, and similar ERN and Pe impairments to term-born adolescents with ADHD. While ADHD symptoms correlated with ERN amplitude at FCz among the preterm-born, ERN amplitude at Fz, N2 and Pe amplitude were not associated with ADHD symptoms. Preterm-born individuals show impairments on neurophysiological indices of conflict monitoring (N2) and error processing (ERN and Pe). Early neurophysiological error processing may be a marker underlying the processes linked to the increased risk for ADHD among preterm-born individuals. Error detection processes are malleable and potential targets for non-pharmacological interventions. Preterm-born individuals are likely to benefit from early interventions.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Prof Jonna Kuntsi has given talks at educational events sponsored by Medice. All funds are received by King’s College London and used for studies of ADHD. Prof Asherson has received funding for research by Vifor Pharma, and has given sponsored talks and been an advisor for Shire, Janssen–Cilag, Eli-Lilly, Flynn Pharma and Pfizer, regarding the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD. All funds are received by King’s College London and used for studies of ADHD. Prof Banaschewski served in an advisory or consultancy role for Actelion, Hexal Pharma, Lilly, Medice, Novartis, Oxford outcomes, PCM scientific, Shire and Vifor Pharma. He received conference support or speaker’s fee by Medice, Novartis and Shire. He is/has been involved in clinical trials conducted by Shire and Vifor Pharma. He received royalties from Hogrefe, Kohlhammer, CIP Medien, Oxford University Press. The present work is unrelated to the above grants and relationships. Prof Brandeis reports no biomedical financial interests or potential conflicts of interest. He serves as an unpaid scientific advisor for an EU-funded Neurofeedback trial. Drs Rommel, James, Michelini and McLoughlin report no biomedical financial interests or potential conflicts of interest. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.