The effect of stimulants on sleep characteristics in children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Objective: To investigate the effects of stimulant medications on subjective and objective sleep characteristics of children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) compared with control children. Methods: An observational study in the sleep clinic and the community. Children with chara...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sleep medicine 2003-07, Vol.4 (4), p.309-316
Main Authors: O'Brien, Louise M, Ivanenko, Anna, Crabtree, Valerie McLaughlin, Holbrook, Cheryl R, Bruner, Jennifer L, Klaus, Carrie J, Gozal, David
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity - drug therapy
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity - physiopathology
Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder
Case-Control Studies
Central Nervous System Stimulants - therapeutic use
Child
Child, Preschool
Female
Health Surveys
Humans
Male
Parents
Polysomnography
Rapid eye movement sleep
Sleep
Sleep - drug effects
Sleep, REM
Stimulant medication
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Objective: To investigate the effects of stimulant medications on subjective and objective sleep characteristics of children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) compared with control children. Methods: An observational study in the sleep clinic and the community. Children with characteristics of ADHD, both stimulant-medicated ( n=53), and non-medicated ( n=34), together with control children ( n=53) completed a sleep habits questionnaire prior to undergoing full overnight polysomnographic assessment. Results: Medicated and non-medicated ADHD subjects were reported to have more sleep disturbances compared with controls. Both groups of ADHD children also demonstrated decreased REM sleep percentage compared with controls ( P=0.006 for ADHDmed; P=0.02 for ADHDnon). However, the use of stimulant medication ( n=53) was not associated with differences in subjective sleep quality or objective sleep measures, compared to ADHD children not taking any medication ( n=34; P=n.s.). Conclusions: Despite the high prevalence of reported sleep disturbance in children with ADHD, stimulant medication appears to have minimal effects on subjective and objective sleep characteristics in children with reported ADHD.
ISSN:1389-9457
1878-5506
DOI:10.1016/S1389-9457(03)00071-6