Deficient cardiovascular stress reactivity predicts poor executive functions in adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Associations between cardiovascular stress markers, subjective stress reactivity, and executive functions were studied in 60 adults (30 with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, ADHD, and 30 controls) using the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT, a test of executive functions) as a cognitive stressor. Despite higher self-perceived stress, the adults with ADHD showed lower or atypical cardiovascular stress reactivity, which was associated with poorer performance on PASAT. Using cardiovascular stress markers, subjective stress, and results on PASAT as predictors in a logistic regression, 83.3% of the ADHD group and 86.9% of the controls could be classified correctly.