Hyperkinetic Syndrome: The role of allergy among psychological and neurological factors.

The role of allergies was examined in a clinical sample of 122 successive referrals with suspected Hyperkinetic Syndrome (HKS). The children were examined using general psychiatric, neurological and immunologic measures. According to these examinations, 18 of the 122 children (15%) did not meet the criteria for a diagnosis of HKS. These children served as a small comparison group since healthy children could not be examined for ethical reasons. A history of allergies was more often positive in children with HKS without associated disorders (50%) and in children with HKS and developmental retardations (36%) than in children with HKS and conduct disorders (23%) and the comparsion group (17%). The objective immunologic measures which essentially covered IgE-mediated reactions were not significantly different. These results are discussed on the background of delayed non-IgE-mediated reactions and possible psychosocial influences. There were no significant correlations between the neurological and psychiatric measures on the one hand and immunologic measures on the other. Factor analysis on the basis of the applied measures revealed three main dimensions but none of these could be interpreted as distinctive "immunologic" dimension.