The spectrum of neurodevelopmental disorders: comorbidities as clues to pathogenesis.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose of review

High comorbidity rates across neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) may suggest shared pathogenic mechanisms rather than independent disease processes. This review synthesizes recent neuroimaging evidence (2024-2025) examining how comorbidity patterns reveal circuit-level convergence across traditional diagnostic boundaries.

Recent findings

Studies of brain connectivity demonstrate that four core transdiagnostic dimensions of cognitive rigidity, sensory processing, repetitive behaviours, and social-emotional regulation show both circuit convergence and disorder-specific patterns across autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, Tourette syndrome and anxiety disorders. Analyses of how brain networks chang

SUBMITTER: McHugh CM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12863590 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature