No evidence of sleep apnea in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may have a component of sleep apnea causing arousal and contributing to ADHD behavior during the day. Twenty non-ADHD children between 4 and 16 years of age were compared with 18 children with ADHD with use of nocturnal polysomnography (PSG) and psychometric tests. The psychometric testing confirmed that the control group were normal and that the ADHD children fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for ADHD. The PSG showed normal arousal indexes for the ADHD group (9.8 +/- 3.9/hr) and controls (10.2 +/- 3.1/hr), and normal apnea/hypnea indexes for the ADHD group (1.0 +/- 2.4/hr) and controls (0.6 +/- 0.9/hr). The sleep architecture was not significantly different between groups. There were no sleep abnormalities in the ADHD children that could be responsible for, or contributing to, the disorder.