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Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in prematurely born children: role of neuroinflammation caused by human cytomegalovirus infection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 August 2025

B. Pavković ,
J. Skoric ,
M. Zaric ,
J. Lakic ,
M. Bozinovic Stanojevic  and
I. Paripovic
B. Pavković*
Affiliation:
Department of Mental Health
J. Skoric
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatrics, Health Center “Dr Simo Milosevic”, Belgrade
M. Zaric
Affiliation:
Department of Mental Health
J. Lakic
Affiliation:
Department of Mental Health
M. Bozinovic Stanojevic
Affiliation:
Specialist Practice for Child Psychiatry “Psiho Centar MM”, Nis
I. Paripovic
Affiliation:
Insitute of Neonatology, Belgrade, Serbia
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

Numerous studies have revealed the association between deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and brain inflammation due to immune system response to congenital or perinatal human cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection.

Objectives

The aim of study was to examine the impact of neuroinflammation caused by CMV infection on the development of ADHD in prematurely born children.

Methods

The medical records of 126 prematurely born children aged 7-11 were retrospectively analyzed. Participants were divided into two groups, the observed population of 56 children with ADHD and the control group without ADHD. Three parameters were observed, C-reactive protein (CRP) as an indicator of inflammation, IgM antibodies to CMV for etiological diagnosis of CMV infection and cranial ultrasound findings for the confirmation of structural changes in the brain.

Results

Statistical analysis of our data showed the association between the onset of ADHD and the presence of congenital/perinatal CMV infection in prematurely born children (p<0.01). Nevertheless, these two variables had a very low positive correlation (phi coefficient 0.07173). The results did not show the association between elevated levels of CRP and presence of ADHD in prematurely born children (p>0.01), which confirmed that not every inflammation, regardless of the cause, was associated with ADHD. The analysis also confirmed the positive correlation between the variables listed in pairs: elevated levels of CRP and positive IgM on CMV, elevated levels of CRP and altered ultrasound neuroimaging findings, as well as positive IgM on CMV and altered ultrasound neuroimaging findings. All of these correlations speak in favor of the CMV caused neuroinflammation as etiopathogenetic basis in ADHD.

Conclusions

In our sample CMV-induced neuroinflammation was associated with the development of ADHD in prematurely born children.

Disclosure of Interest

None Declared

Information

Type
Abstract
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 68 , Special Issue S1: Abstracts of the 33rd European Congress of Psychiatry , April 2025 , pp. S572
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of European Psychiatric Association
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