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Effects of stimulant treatment on sleep in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

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Abstract

The main objective of this study is to assess the prevalence of sleep disorders in treatment-naïve children and adolescents with ADHD compared with healthy controls matched for age and gender; and, at the same time, to determine whether stimulant medication (methylphenidate) affects sleep in the same group of children and adolescents with ADHD (naïve) after a 3-month treatment. A total of 120 children and adolescents (60 newly diagnosed with ADHD according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM IV), and 60 gender- and age-matched controls) were evaluated through objective (actigraphy) and subjective (sleep diary) measures. Later, of those 60 newly diagnosed with ADHD, 30 started pharmacological treatment with methylphenidate with a mean daily dose of 0.58 mg/kg. No significant differences in both measures within the ADHD group after following the 3-month pharmacological treatment with methylphenidate were found. There were neither any significant differences in sleep parameters through objective measures between the medication-naïve ADHD group and the control group, while significant differences were found through sleep diary (registered by parents) in latency and efficiency (p =  < 0.05). These findings suggest that patients receiving a mean daily dose of 0.58 mg/kg of methylphenidate for 3 months did not experience sleep disturbances, based on objective (actigraphy) and subjective data. In addition, sleep problems in ADHD subjects may be overestimated by parents due to ADHD symptomatology.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Serrano for her help in collecting the material. We also would like to thanks all the patients and families for their cooperation.

Funding

All phases of this study were supported by Grant PI11/2009 from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Spain.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Unit, Hospital Sant Joan de Déu, Barcelona, Spain

    Miriam Sanabra, Carlota Alcover, Oscar Sans & Jose A. Alda

  2. Universidad Ramón Llull, Barcelona, Spain

    Miriam Sanabra, Tary Gómez-Hinojosa & Carlota Alcover

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  1. Miriam Sanabra
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Correspondence to Jose A. Alda.

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On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

This study was approved by the Clinical Research Ethics Committee (CEIC) of Fundació Sant Joan de Déu with permission number: CEIC PIC-17-11 and was conducted following the ethical principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.

Research involving human participants

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Sanabra, M., Gómez-Hinojosa, T., Alcover, C. et al. Effects of stimulant treatment on sleep in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Sleep Biol. Rhythms 19, 69–77 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41105-020-00289-3

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