0957 The Association Between Sleep and Sustained Attention Differs in Children vs. Adolescents With ADHD

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Sleep disturbance in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is frequent, and lead to shorter sleep duration which has been associated with lower performance on sustained attention tasks. However, no study has investigated this association in adolescents with ADHD. We sought to explore whether the association between sleep and sustained attention performance of children with ADHD is similar in adolescents with ADHD given that sleep patterns are different. Methods Parents of 32 children (mean age = 8.0; SD = 1.3) and 10 adolescents (mean = 15.2; SD = 1.3) with ADHD completed a developmental questionnaire including sleep questions. Children and adolescents were medication free and underwent a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation. Three sleep variables were extracted from the questionnaire, namely the duration of the sleep period during week nights and weekends as well as the difference between the two (“weekend shift”). The Continuous Performance Test was used to measure sustained attention (omission, commission, hit reaction time). Pearson correlations between sleep variables and sustained attention measures were calculated. Results Children showed a positive correlation between hit reaction time and the duration of the sleep period during week nights (r = 0.37; p =0.04), weekends (r = 0.51; p = 0.004) and the weekend shift (r = 0.37; p =0.04). No significant correlations were found in the adolescent group. Conclusion The fact that no significant associations were found in the adolescent group suggest an improvement of the arousal system through brain development in ADHD, or that other mechanisms could be involved in the etiology of ADHD in adolescents. Support Centre d’apprentissage aux 1001 astuces; Fonds de recherche du Québec - Santé