Sleep Patterns in Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder by Polysomnography

Nam, Ji Yeon; Jeong, Jong Hyun; Kim, Tae Won; Seo, Ho Jun; Lim, Hyun Kook; Hong, Seung Chul; Han, Jin Hee

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
Sleep problems are a prominent feature in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and about 25-43% of ADHD patients were reported to have sleep problems including higher level of nocturnal activity, longer sleep latency, lower sleep efficiency, more frequent night awakenings and shorter total sleep time. However, the association between sleep and ADHD is poorly understood and their relationships to sleep structure are not consistent across studies. The aims of our study were to ascertain the nocturnal sleep disturbances in patients with ADHD by objective measure, polysomnography.
METHODS
The subjects were 20 patients with ADHD and 21 control children (6-12 years). We tested them by polysomnography to get sleep variables and compare sleep disturbances. In addition, we tested ADHD group by neurocognitive function test and assessed the correlation between sleep variables and neurocognitive functions in ADHD group.
RESULTS
In sleep variables by polysomnography, the total time in bed (509.73+/-24.56 min vs. 490.51+/-20.71 min, p=0.01), sleep latency (21.30+/-19.33 min vs. 10.72+/-7.26 min, p=0.031) and limb movement arousal (6.56+/-2.19 /hr vs. 5.98+/-1.38 /hr, p=0.043) were significantly increased in patients with ADHD compared with controls. And the slow wave sleep (24.59+/-4.73% vs. 28.45+/-5.63%, p=0.023) were significantly decreased in patients with ADHD compared with controls. There were no significant differences in sleep period time and sleep efficiency test.
CONCLUSION
The patients with ADHD had more sleep problems and results of this study suggested that they have significantly increased the total time in bed, sleep latency and Limb movement arousal. And in the patients with ADHD, some sleep variables indicated poor sleep quality. However, further studies should repeatedly suggest consistent results about sleep problems in children with ADHD.