Neurobehavioral Disorders

Sleep Disturbances Increase ADHD Symptom Severity in Children

Colleen Stanton
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Publish Date
ADHD symptoms and sleep disturbance exhibited a strong, positive association while ADHD symptoms and sleep duration showed a minimal, negative association.

Increased severity of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms in early adolescent children is strongly associated with higher levels of sleep disturbance, but demonstrated a weak relationship with sleep duration according to study results presented at the American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting, held virtually from May 17 to 21, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.

In the current study, researchers examined the relationship between severity of ADHD symptoms and level of sleep disruption in early adolescent children, a population known to have high rates of sleep-related issues.

Using data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, a nationwide longitudinal study, data was collected at a two-year follow-up visit . ADHD symptom severity was measured using the “Attention Problems” scale on the child behavior checklist, while sleep was assessed subjectively via parent reporting using the Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children (SDSC) and objectively via wrist-worn accelerometers. A total of 4,414 children with a mean (SD) age of 12.0 (0.67) were included in the analysis.

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Increased severity of ADHD symptoms is strongly associated with worse sleep disturbance, but there is a very weak relationship between ADHD symptoms and sleep duration.

Findings revealed a strong positive association between total sleep disturbance and ADHD symptoms (r= 0.41; p<.001). Multivariate linear regression using total SDSC score, when adjusted for medication use and puberty stage, further demonstrated a positive association of symptoms and SDSC score (ß=0.98; 95% CI: 0.91-1.05 p<.001).

However, only a very small negative correlation was found between accelerometer-measured sleep duration and ADHD symptoms (r=-0.05; p<.001). Multivariate analysis using total sleep duration as the dependent variable also reflected this minimal association, demonstrating only a slight negative impact of total sleep duration on symptom severity (ß=-0.45; 95% CI: -0.89 to -0.01; p=0.04).

The researchers concluded, “Increased severity of ADHD symptoms is strongly associated with worse sleep disturbance, but there is a very weak relationship between ADHD symptoms and sleep duration.” They noted that lifestyle and/or pharmacological interventions may be of benefit to ADHD-diagnosed children with significant sleep disturbances.

This article originally appeared on Psychiatry Advisor

References:

 Patel B, Tyrka A, Lewis-de los Angeles W. The Relationship Between ADHD Symptom Severity and Sleep Disturbance Using Accelerometer and the Subjective Sleep Disturbance Scale. Abstract presented at: the American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting; May 17 to 21, 2025; Los Angeles, CA. Session 4067.