Objective sleep measurement in typically and atypically developing preschool children with ADHD-like profiles.
OBJECTIVE
This study investigated the association between preschool children's sleep patterns measured by actigraphy and parent-reported hyperactivity symptoms. Many previous studies have reported sleep problems in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)-like symptoms.


METHODS
This study examined a cross-sectional sample of 186 preschoolers age 2-5 years in three groups: children with autism, children with developmental delay without autism, and typically developing children recruited from the general population. One week of actigraphic sleep data plus a parent report of the presence or absence of a current sleep problem were collected. Parents completed the child behavior checklist; a subset of children in preschool had teachers who completed the caregiver-teacher report form. Sleep behavior was compared for those children with and without clinical levels of attention-deficit/hyperactivity symptoms (T scores > or = 65).


RESULTS
The prevalence of a parent-defined sleep problem across the entire sample was 36.1%. Thirty-four percent of the sample had a parent-reported ADHD composite in the clinical range. Those children with a clinical ADHD profile were more likely to be described by parents as having a sleep problem. However, no significant differences in actigraphic sleep patterns or night-to-night sleep-wake variability were found for children with an ADHD profile in the clinical range.


CONCLUSIONS
In this non-clinical sample of preschool age children, parental reports of clinical ADHD profiles were significantly associated with parental reports of sleep problems but not with actigraphically recorded sleep-wake data.
Goodlin-Jones
Beth L
BL
Department of Psychiatry, MIND Institute, Sacramento, CA, USA. beth.goodlinjones@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu
Waters
Sara
S
Anders
Thomas F
TF
D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents; D017286:Polysomnography; D015995:Prevalence; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology