Evaluating Sleep Disorders amongst Children with Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

The attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most compromising mental disorders of childhood and adolescence. Subsequently, different studies in recent years were conducted on the relationship between sleep disturbances and ADHD in children. About 30% of children and 60% to 80% of adults with ADHD develop sleep disorders, which may result in cognitive and behavioral changes in the patients. The current study aimed at comparing sleep disorders in children with ADHD and their normal peers in Tabriz, Iran.
The current case-control study was conducted on the target population of children within the age range of 6 to 12 years, which included 50 children with ADHD receiving medication, 55 children with ADHD symptoms without receiving any medication, and 71 normal children, all of which screened from the school students of Tabriz using the child symptom inventory-4 (CSI-4) and selected by the multi-stage cluster sampling method. The children's sleep habits questionnaire (CSHQ) was completed by their mothers and data were analyzed using the multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA).
According to the results of the current study, a significant number of children with ADHD showed sleep disorder that can accounts for some degree of their behavioral dysregulation. There was a significant difference among the study groups regarding the subscales of sleep resistance and sleep duration, daytime sleep, parasomnia, and sleep apnea (p 0.05).
Since children with ADHD usually have more sleep problems, considering the sleep quality in such children is of great importance; in the treatment of such children their sleep problems should be considered particularly.