Is Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) a Dimension or a Category? What Does the Relationship Between ADHD Traits and Psychosocial Quality of Life Tell Us?

Objective: The question of whether attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a discrete category or a continuous dimension remains clinically relevant. We report the first examination of this question from the viewpoint of the relationship between ADHD traits and psychosocial quality of life (QoL), and whether the level of QoL declines markedly around a certain high ADHD trait range suggestive of a categorical boundary.

Methods: Parents/caregivers of 1,967 schoolchildren aged 6 to 11 from the general population completed the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory and the ADHD-Rating Scale IV.

The short-term and long-term adverse effects of melatonin treatment in children and adolescents: a systematic review and GRADE assessment.

Background: Currently, melatonin is used to treat children and adolescents with insomnia without knowing the full extent of the short-term and long-term consequences. Our aim was to provide clinicians and guideline panels with a systematic assessment of serious-and non-serious adverse events seen in continuation of melatonin treatment and the impact on pubertal development and bone health following long-term administration in children and adolescents with chronic insomnia.

Methods: We searched PubMed, Embase, Cinahl and PsycINFO via Ovid, up to March 17, 2023, for studies on melatonin treatment among children and adolescents (aged 5-20 years) with chronic insomnia.

Use of melatonin for children and adolescents with chronic insomnia attributable to disorders beyond indication: a systematic review, meta-analysis and clinical recommendation.

Background: Melatonin has become a widely used sleeping aid for young individuals currently not included in existing guidelines. The aim was to develop a recommendation on the use of melatonin in children and adolescents aged 2-20 years, with chronic insomnia due to disorders beyond indication.

Methods: We performed a systematic search for guidelines, systematic reviews, and randomised trials (RCTs) in Medline, Embase, Cochrane Library, PsycInfo, Cinahl, Guidelines International Network, Trip Database, Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health, American Academy of Sleep Medicine, European Sleep Research Society and Scandinavian Health Authorities databases.

Validation of the Weiss Functional Impairment Rating Scale (WFIRS-P) as a Functional Impairment Measure in a General Population of Schoolchildren.

Functional impairment rating scales are few in numbers and have mainly been examined in clinical populations. The Weiss Functional Impairment Rating Scale-Parent report (WFIRS-P) is a case in point. We tested the psychometric properties of the WFIRS-P in the largest general population study to date and for the first time examined the factor structure of the scale in a general population setting.

The factor structure of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in schoolchildren.

Background: Most studies support a bifactor model of childhood ADHD with two specific factors. However, several studies have not compared this model with a bifactor model with three specific factors, few have tested the actual strength of the factors, and none have examined whether "talks excessively" should be treated as a hyperactivity versus impulsivity symptom in children with ADHD.

Aims: To examine the factor structure of ADHD symptoms and evaluate the relative strength of potential factors.

How much impairment is required for ADHD? No evidence of a discrete threshold.

Background: A diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) requires the presence of impairment alongside symptoms above a specific frequency and severity threshold. However, the question of whether that symptom threshold represents anything more than an arbitrary cutoff on a continuum of impairment requires further empirical study. Therefore, we present the first study investigating if the relationship between ADHD symptom severity and functional impairment is nonlinear in a way that suggests a discrete, nonarbitrary symptom level threshold associated with a marked step increase in impairment.

Testing the evolutionary advantage theory of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder traits.

To reconcile the strong secular persistence of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) despite its impairing effects, ADHD traits have been postulated to offer an evolutionary advantage. It has been proposed that such advantages should in particular be observable under time-critical, novel, and resource-depleted conditions requiring response-readiness and high levels of scanning and exploration/foraging. Our objective was to provide the first behavioral test of this hypothesis.

Disturbed sleep in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is not a question of psychiatric comorbidity or ADHD presentation.

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a heterogeneous psychiatric disorder with three different presentations and high levels of psychiatric comorbidity. Serious sleep complaints are also common, but the role of the presentations and comorbidity in sleep is under-investigated in ADHD. Consequently, the goal of the study was to investigate sleep problems in medicine-naive school-aged children (mean age = 9.

Sleep Problems and Daily Functioning in Children With ADHD: An Investigation of the Role of Impairment, ADHD Presentations, and Psychiatric Comorbidity.

Objective: Little systematic information is available regarding how sleep problems influence daytime functioning in children with ADHD, as the role of ADHD presentations and comorbidity is unclear.

Method: In total, 397 children were assessed with the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire, the Weiss Functional Impairment Rating Scale, and the ADHD Rating Scale.

Results: We found a moderate, positive correlation between sleep problems and impaired functioning in both children with ADHD and in typically developed children.