Recent Developments in the Genetics of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Dear Colleagues,

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder is the most common neurodevelopmental disorder worldwide and persists into adulthood in about 60% of cases. Despite high heritability, with estimates of up to 80% based on twin and family studies, the genetic architecture of ADHD remains widely unknown. In addition, common and rare variants seem to be involved in ADHD genetic liability, though environmental and developmental factors also play a role. Disentangling the contribution of environment and genes is rather complex, however, recent studies with adequate designs that do just so are emerging. Furthermore, the increasing numbers of participants in the latest genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have revealed the first genome-wide loci associated with significant risk of ADHD development. Still, the molecular contribution of those risk gene variants to ADHD pathology have yet to be characterized, and new technologies like patient-derived neuronal cell models and brain organoids via human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC) might contribute to further elucidating the role of risk gene variants. Furthermore, emerging evidence points not only to a shared genetic risk between ADHD and other mental disorders but also somatic diseases, which seem to occur more frequently in ADHD. Therefore, given the increasing number of samples, new technologies, and sophisticated study designs, we will advance the goal of unravelling the mystery of the missing heritability of ADHD.

Prof. Dr. Sarah Kittel-Schneider
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the Special Issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Clinical Medicine is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.