Symptoms of anxiety and depression in children with and without ADHD from preschool to school age (2021 – 2025)

Other Collaborators: Beate Ørbeck (OUS), Svein Friis (OUS, UiO), Heidi Aase (Institute of Public health (FHI)), Guido Biele (FHI), Pål Zeiner (OUS, UiO), Søren Dalsgaard (University of Copenhagen)

Attention deficit-hyperactivity/impulsive disorder (ADHD), anxiety, and depression are conditions often challenging to detect in young children. Knowledge of the early course and risk factors for these conditions is essential to identify children and families who can benefit from preventive interventions or treatment in healthcare services.

In this project, we examined the course of anxiety and depressive symptoms in children from age 3 to age 8 years in a longitudinal cohort study. We aimed to identify child symptoms reported by parents and teachers at age 3 years that could predict anxiety and depression at age 8 years in children with and without coexisting ADHD. We also aimed to examine familial risk factors (e.g., maternal depression and social support) that might have been important to the course of these symptoms.

The project is a sub-study of "The Preschool ADHD Study: Early characteristics, developmental trajectories, risk, and protective factors in a prospective birth cohort" (The ADHD Study), which was conducted in cooperation between Oslo University Hospital and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. The participants are included from The Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Study (MoBa); an ongoing prospective population-based cohort study of Norwegian-speaking pregnant women conducted by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, which started in 1999.

The PhD candidate defended her thesis for this project in March 2025:
Public defence: Christine Baalsrud Ingeborgrud - Institute of Clinical Medicine

Publications:

Ingeborgrud CB, Oerbeck B, Friis S, Pripp AH, Zeiner P, Aase H, Biele G, Dalsgaard S, Overgaard KR (2024)
Do maternal anxiety and depressive symptoms predict anxiety in children with and without ADHD at 8 years? Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry, 33 (9), 3169-3178
DOI 10.1007/s00787-024-02374-1, PubMed 38376613

Ingeborgrud CB, Oerbeck B, Friis S, Pripp AH, Aase H, Biele G, Dalsgaard S, Overgaard KR (2024)
Low perceived social support in mothers during pregnancy and early childhood; associations with anxiety and ADHD symptoms in children at 3 and 8 years
Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol, 60 (4), 895-903 DOI 10.1007/s00127-024-02792-1, PubMed 39503851

Ingeborgrud CB, Oerbeck B, Friis S, Zeiner P, Pripp AH, Aase H, Biele G, Dalsgaard S, Overgaard KR (2023)
Anxiety and depression from age 3 to 8 years in children with and without ADHD symptoms
Sci Rep, 13 (1), 15376 DOI 10.1038/s41598-023-42412-7, PubMed 37717097