The Role of Actigraphy to Identify Sleep Disorders in Children with ADHD

Abstract

Currently sleep disorders are one of the most prevalent problems in children, with an estimated prevalence of 15-20% and a highly variable clinical spectrum. One of the pathologies in which sleep disorders achieve special relevance is in attention-deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), because the complex association between these two phenomena can largely determine the therapeutic handling and prognosis of these patients. Nowadays, the number of research articles that makes unquestionable the relation between ADHD and sleep disorders is increasing, as well as studies in which actigraphy acquires increasingly validity as a tool to asses sleep in the paediatric population, with a good correlation with polysomnography, considered the "gold standard" in sleep medicine. Our review aims to highlight the positive impact that the use of actigraphy as a screening tool for the detection of sleep problems in ADHD may have on the quality of life of these children and their families. After an exhaustive review of the most recent published literature on this topic, we suggest a set of recommendations which are summarized in that the actigraphy allows us to study longer periods of sleep-wake in an stable way, avoiding the difficulties of polysomnographic studies in children. All this makes it an ideal screening element in the initial assessment of patients with ADHD who report sleep problems.