Recently, Arns et al. (
1
) showed an inverse correlation between rates of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD) diagnosis in the United States and horizontal solar irradiance. In the same
article, the authors also indicated that prevalence estimates for ADHD correlated
inversely with solar irradiance in a cross-national study including 10 countries.
Possible mechanisms to explain those findings, such as the metabolism of vitamin D
or problems related to circadian rhythm, have been proposed and are plausible (
2
,
3
). Thus, the investigation of whether solar irradiance is associated to ADHD prevalence
rates may have important implications to epidemiology, etiology, and therapeutics.- Arns M.
- van der Heijden K.B.
- Eugene Arnold L.
- Leon Kenemans J.
Reply to: The geographic variation in the prevalence of attention-deficit/hyperactivity
disorder the united states is likely due to geographical variations of solar ultraviolet
B doses and race [published online ahead of print July 2].
Biol Psychiatry. 2013;
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References
- Geographic variation in the prevalence of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: The sunny perspective.Biol Psychiatry. 2013; 74: 585-590
- The geographic variation in the prevalence of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in the United States is likely due to geographic variations of solar ultraviolet b doses and race [published online ahead of print July 2].Biol Psychiatry. 2013;
- Reply to: The geographic variation in the prevalence of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder the united states is likely due to geographical variations of solar ultraviolet B doses and race [published online ahead of print July 2].Biol Psychiatry. 2013;
- The worldwide prevalence of ADHD: A systematic review and metaregression analysis.Am J Psychiatry. 2007; 164: 942-948
- The prevalence of DSM-IV attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: A meta-analytic review.Neurotherapeutics. 2012; 9: 490-499
Reno MJ, Hansen CW, Stein JS (2012): Global horizontal irradiance clear sky models: Implementation and analysis. Available at: http://energy.sandia.gov/wp/wp-content/gallery/uploads/SAND2012-2389_ClearSky_final.pdf. Accessed June 15, 2013.
- Effective accuracy of satellite-derived irradiance.Theor Appl Climatol. 1999; 62: 199-207
- Using reduced data sets ISCCP-B2 from the Meteosat satellites to assess surface solar irradiance.Solar Energy. 2007; 81: 240-253
- Analyzing effect sizes: Random-effects models.in: Cooper H.M. Hedges L.V. The Handbook of Research Synthesis. Russel Sage Foundation, New York2009: 295-315
- Outlier and influence diagnostics for meta-analysis.Res Synth Meth. 2010; 1: 112-125
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: November 21, 2013
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© 2014 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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- Reply to: Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Solar Irradiance: A Cloudy PerspectiveBiological PsychiatryVol. 76Issue 8
- PreviewWe thank Hoffmann and colleagues for thought-provoking correspondence and for sharing their data for additional analyses. However, in contrast to their assertion, our analyses were based on solar irradiance (SI) data from only one source (National Renewable Energy Laboratory) for the U.S. attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) prevalence (PREV) (1); therefore, it is unlikely that our results were affected by SI source; we used only one source within these analyses.
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