RT Journal
A1 Nigg J
T1 ENvironment, developmental origins, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
JF Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine
JO Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine
YR 2012
FD April 1
VO 166
IS 4
SP 387
OP 388
DO 10.1001/archpediatrics.2011.905
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archpediatrics.2011.905
AB 
In the current issue of the Archives, we see additional evidence, in a retrospective design, that early developmental events are related to subsequent attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children.1 Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder is a costly health condition rivaling traditional medical diseases in its effect on social, financial, and quality-of-life issues. Clinicians held a conviction in the early and mid-20th century that children with ADHD had minimal brain damage or minimal brain dysfunction.2 However, a vague phenotype characterization, the failure to identify the nature of the brain dysfunction in the mid-20th century, and demonstrations of substantial heritability for hyperactivity, inattention, and ADHD in the late-20th century rendered the terminology obsolete and also seemed to discourage investigations of environmental inputs to the condition. Did we discard the concept of brain damage too soon?