ADHD kids show slower brain growth

Brain maturation in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) lags several years behind that of children with no psychiatric or neurological ailments, according to a new brain-imaging study.

Developmental delays in ADHD hit a peak of 5 years in regions at the front of the brain’s outer layer, or cortex, say psychiatrist Philip Shaw of the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Md.,