title: Poor sleep and neurocognitive function in early adolescence.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Evidence regarding the associations between sleep duration and quality, and neurocognitive function in adolescents remains scanty. This study examined the associations in early adolescence between: sleep duration; efficiency; fragmentation; wake-after-sleep-onset (WASO); catch-up sleep; intelligence; memory; and executive function, including attention.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study included 354 girls and boys with a mean age 12.3 years (SD = 0.5) from a birth cohort born in 1998. Sleep was measured with accelerometers for an average of eight nights. Cognitive function was evaluated with subtests from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III (WISC-III), the Developmental Neuropsychological Assessment 2 (NEPSY-2), the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task (WCST), Conners' Continuous Performance Task (CPT), and the Trail Making Test (TMT).
  
  
  RESULTS
  In girls, a higher WASO and fragmentation index were associated with poorer executive functioning (higher number of perseverative errors in the WCST), and longer catch-up sleep was associated with longer reaction times and better performance in one verbal intelligence test (Similarities subtest of the WISC-III). In boys, shorter sleep duration, lower efficiency, higher WASO, higher sleep fragmentation and shorter catch-up sleep were associated with lower executive functioning (more commission errors, shorter reaction times, and had lower D Prime scores in CPT).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In adolescent girls, poorer sleep quality was only weakly associated with poorer executive functioning, while in boys, poorer sleep quantity and quality were associated with an inattentive pattern of executive functioning. The amount of catch-up sleep during weekends showed mixed patterns in relation to neurocognitive function.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Liisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kuula
authors.affiliation: Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Anu-Katriina
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Pesonen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Silja
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Martikainen
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland; Children's Hospital, Helsinki University Central Hospital, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Eero
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kajantie
authors.affiliation: Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Jari
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lahti
authors.affiliation: University of Oulu, Faculty of Medicine, Oulu, Finland.
authors.forename: Timo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Strandberg
authors.affiliation: Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Soile
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tuovinen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Kati
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Heinonen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Riikka
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pyhälä
authors.affiliation: Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Marius
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lahti
authors.affiliation: Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. Electronic address: katri.raikkonen@helsinki.fi.
authors.forename: Katri
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Räikkönen
mesh_terms: D056044:Actigraphy; D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003071:Cognition; D056344:Executive Function; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012890:Sleep; D012892:Sleep Deprivation / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology; D014888:Wechsler Scales
keywords: Actigraphy; Adolescence; Executive function; Intelligence quotient; Memory; Sleep