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Significantly elevated rates of rare, large copy number variants (CNVs) occur in autism and schizophrenia (e.g., Science 2007; 316:445). To see whether CNVs also have a role in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), researchers genotyped 366 U.K. children with ADHD and 1047 controls born in the U.K. in 1958. Children with ADHD (mean age, 10.5 years) had a mean IQ of 86. Thirty-three cases had mental retardation (MR; IQ <70). Researchers conducted genotyping for rare (minor allele frequency, <0.01), large (>500 kb) deletions and duplications on two platforms.
The ADHD group had a significantly higher mean rate of rare, large CNVs than the control group (15.6% vs. 7.5%). Within the ADHD group, the mean rate was 42.4% among those with…