Introduction:

In order to diagnose attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and adolescents, identifying the coexistence of affective-behavioral comorbidities is necessary since they complicate the required evaluation and therapeutic processes.

Objective:

To describe the affective-behavioral comorbidity associated to the different subtypes of ADHD in a sample of children and adolescents in Manizales, Colombia.

Materials and methods:

The sample consisted of 141 participants aged between 5 and 15 years, attending school, diagnosed with ADHD and with IQ greater than or equal to 85. An exploratory-descriptive study was conducted in which records of the international neuropsychiatric interview (MINI-KID) were analyzed.

Results:

8-11 years is the most common age range in which comorbid association is found, and combined ADHD is the most frequent subtype. 32% of the sample presents comorbid affective-behavioral association and internalizing disorders represent 68.8%, with simple phobia as the most prevalent comorbidity in 80.6% of the cases.

Conclusions:

Simple phobia is the most frequent internalizing disorder in the study, both in age ranges and ADHD subtype. Oppositional defiant disorder is the most common externalizing comorbidity of the combined ADHD subtype.

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