A Statistical Study of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Attention Deficit Disorder, and Hyperactivity and Their Relation to Sleep-Disordered Breathing.

UNLABELLED: This restrospective study is aimed at increasing the understanding of the relation of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), attention deficit disorder (ADD), and hyperactivity to the various symptoms of sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) to aid in the diagnosis and implementation of treatment protocols for a child's cognitive function and emotional regulations. Increasing better sleep can enhance a child's success in school and may improve attention, behavior, and neurocognitive processes, which can contribute to the child's future health.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

The study comprised 665 patients from age 2 to 16 years with a mean age of 8.4 years, of which 54% were male and 46% were female. The incidence of ADHD was 29% while ADD alone was 7% and hyperactivity alone was 15%. A sleep questionnaire was issued to parents of the dental patients nationwide, and they were asked to fill it out after several nights of observing their child while sleeping. A numerical severity scale was used for each of the most common symptoms of SDB and consisted of a ranking from 1 to 5 (mild to severe). The symptoms plus their severities resulted in a sleep severity index. This data was used for the various statistical tests. A subsample of 220 cases was also used to determine treatment success with a preformed removable sleep modifying appliance.

FINDINGS: ADHD was correlated with 78% of 27 SDB symptoms, while ADD occurring alone was correlated with 37%, and hyperactivity occurring alone with 56%. The symptoms most closely associated with ADHD were "nighttime mouth breathing" and "wakes up at night," and both symptoms were correlated with ADHD, ADD, and hyperactivity. An alternative condition to ADHD called DLRS ("doesn't listen, resists sitting still") was introduced that can verify the accuracy of ADHD.

CONCLUSION

ADHD was correlated with 78% of 27 SDB symptoms, "nighttime mouth breathing" was correlated with 90% of 29 SDB symptoms, and "wakes up at night" was correlated with 83% of 29 SDB symptoms.