Psychological characteristics of two neurodevelopmental disorders: an exploration of anxiety in Sotos syndrome and the prevalence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome

The first paper reports a systematic review and meta-analysis exploring the prevalence of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in the genetic syndrome 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome (22q11.2DS). Meta-analysis of 49 primary studies of participants with 22q11.2DS calculated a pooled ADHD prevalence rate of 0.38. Due to mean age of the samples included in the analysis, the prevalence rate is more applicable to child and adolescent populations. Future research is required to address developmental delay in ADHD assessments for genetic syndromes. The second paper explores anxiety related behaviours in 31 individuals with Sotos Syndrome (SS) in comparison to published comparison data and two other syndrome groups (Rubinstein–Taybi syndrome and Fragile-X Syndrome). The two research questions identified were: 1). Do people with SS have levels of anxiety which differ from comparison populations? 2). Is anxiety in SS related to Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) characteristics, ability, sex or age? Results showed that people with SS were reported to have higher levels of anxiety compared to published normative data and also in comparison to the genetic syndromes Rubinstein–Taybi syndrome and Fragile-X syndrome. ASD traits were associated with a number of subscales on anxiety measures. Further research is required to address the link between anxiety and ASD in those with SS. The third paper is a Press Release summarizing the empirical paper and the meta-analysis