[Association between the characteristics of coordination development disorder and symptoms of attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity in children in the city of Manizales].

INTRODUCTION: Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) in childhood is an important public health problem, which has important implications for different spheres of development: motor, cognitive, psychosocial and emotional. Therefore, the presence of comorbidity is common, along with other disorders in child development. This article presents a study that determines the association between DCD characteristics with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the association between DCD characteristics and ADHD symptoms in the city of Manizales, Colombia.

METHODS: Cross-sectional, descriptive and associative study, in a sample of 140 children aged 6-12, randomised in public and private institutions. A structured interview was conducted, along with the questionnaires MINIKID and Cuestionario para Trastorno del Desarrollo de la Coordinación (CTDC). A descriptive univariate analysis was performed on the the sociodemographic characteristics, as well as association tests with χ(2) test, and dependence level with φ coefficient.

RESULTS: A statistically significant association was found between the CTDC characteristics with ADHD symptoms (φ=.452; P=.001).

CONCLUSIONS: An association was found in the studied population between the CTDC characteristics and ADHD symptoms, indicating that children with difficulties in motor performance may also have attention difficulties and hyperactivity.