Exploring the relationship between admixture and genetic susceptibility to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in two Latin American cohorts

Contemporary research on the genomics of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) often underrepresents admixed populations of diverse genomic ancestries, such as Latin Americans. This study explores the relationship between admixture and genetic associations for ADHD in Colombian and Mexican cohorts. Some 546 participants in two groups, ADHD and Control, were genotyped with Infinium PsychArray®. Global ancestry levels were estimated using overall admixture proportions and principal component analysis, while local ancestry was determined using a method to estimate ancestral components along the genome. Genome-wide association analysis (GWAS) was conducted to identify significant associations. Differences between Colombia and Mexico were evaluated using appropriate statistical tests. 354 Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and Single-nucleotide variants (SNVs) related to some genes and intergenic regions exhibited suggestive significance (p-value < 5*10e−5) in the GWAS. None of the variants revealed genome-wide significance (p-value < 5*10e−8). The study identified a significant relationship between risk SNPs and the European component of admixture, notably observed in the LOC105379109 gene. Despite differences in risk association loci, such as FOXP2, our findings suggest a possible homogeneity in genetic variation’s impact on ADHD between Colombian and Mexican populations. Current reference datasets for ADHD predominantly consist of samples with high European ancestry, underscoring the need for further research to enhance the representation of reference populations and improve the identification of ADHD risk traits in Latin Americans.