Snoring, sleep quality, and sleepiness across attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder subtypes.

Study Objectives: To characterize the relationship between pediatric attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) subtypes, chronic snoring, and indexes of sleep quality and daytime sleepiness.

Design: A cross-sectional design with planned comparisons of ADHD (all subtypes) versus general community controls; ADHD Predominantly Inattentive Type (ADHD-I) versus a group with both ADHD Predominantly Hyperactive/Impulsive Type (ADHD-HI) and ADHD Combined Type (ADHD-C); and ADHD-HI versus ADHD-C.

Setting: Subjects recruited from a pediatric clinic, a university psycholgy clinic, and the general community.

Participants: Caretakers of 74 children (45 with ADHD, 29 community controls; 53 boys, 21 girls; mean age, 9.6 years; age range, 6 to 16 years). Thirty-two (71.1%) of the children with ADHD were taking stimulant medication and 7 (15.5%) were taking hypnotic medication.

Interventions: N/A.

Measurements And Results: Caretakers completed the Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire (PSQ) and the Children's Sleep-Wake Scale (CSWS). Only the ADHD-HI diagnosis was associated with an increased likelihood of chronic snoring. Sleep quality was poorer among children with ADHD than controls; however, there were no differences in sleep quality across ADHD subtypes. Sleepiness was greater in children with ADHD, especially the ADHD-I Type.

Conclusions: Chronic snoring may be a correlated feature in only a subgroup of the ADHD population, possibly those more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD-HI. Although children with ADHD have poorer sleep quality and greater daytime sleepiness, these 2 features of ADHD are not closely related.