General Sleep Parameters and Sleep Architecture in Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and their Typically Developing Peers.

Abstract

Polysomnography (PSG) sleep studies that compare the sleep of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to their typically developing (TD) peers have historically been highly inconsistent. Not only has there been sporadic control over potential confounding variables (e.g., age, medication-status), but no studies have compared sleep between ADHD subtypes. Therefore, this thesis compared the sleep parameters (sleep onset, duration) and sleep architecture (e.g., REM latency, % of REM and NREM sleep]) between a medication-naïve sample of 25 children diagnosed with ADHD, to an age- and sex-matched sample of 25 of their TD peers. Statistical analyses revealed that the ADHD group took longer to fall asleep and slept less than the TD group. However, no significant sleep architecture differences were found between the ADHD and TD groups, or between the ADHD subtypes. Results suggest that ADHD does not relate to intrinsic differences in sleep architecture in children.