Objective: The purpose of this study is to assess the sleep behaviors, sleep problems and frequency, and relationship with psychiatric comorbidities in ADHD Combined type and to evaluate the effect of sleep problems on quality of life. Method: Forty-six boys, aged 7 to 13 years, with ADHD-combined type and 31 healthy boys were included. ADHD children were never treated for sleep or psychiatric disorders. Intelligence quotient (IQ) test scores were minimum 80, body mass index were normal and did not have medical disorders. Parents completed Children’s Sleep Habits Questionnaire, Conners’ Parent Rating Scale and The Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) and participants were asked about sleep behaviors and were administered PedsQL and Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia. Results: The frequency of sleep problems in ADHD is 84.8%, higher than the control group (p = .002). Evaluating PedsQL scores, the quality of life is worse in physical, psychosocial health, and total life quality (p < .05). ADHD group with sleep problems have more night wakings than control group with sleep problems (p = .02). The comorbidity do not increase sleep problems. The frequency of parasomnias is increased in group with learning disorders (p = .05). Conclusion: The results of this study, which controls for a number of possible confounders found in previous examinations of ADHD and sleep, support the results of a number of other studies that have found an increased overall prevalence of parent-reported sleep disturbances in children with ADHD compared with healthy control participants. As the ADHD group have more night wakings than the control group through the night, it is thought that night wakings that cause a partitioned sleep may be important signs seen in ADHD. That could be suggested by two hypotheses. First one is that, daytime sleepiness is more common in ADHD and those children present excessive hyperactivity during the day to stay awake and the second one is the improvement of ADHD signs when the drugs for sleepiness are used. Usage of standardized and valid diagnostic criteria, exclusion of adolescence, gender, socioeconomic level, primary sleep problems, medical disorders and low IQ level, making allowances for effect of comorbidities and having compared with the control group are the important methodological features of this study. The most important limitation of this study is small sample size that makes the findings less generalizable to other groups of children with ADHD, and another one is not having used objective measurements together with subjective measurements. In conclusion, these results underscore the importance of screening all children who have a symptom constellation suggestive of ADHD for sleep problems that may either play a causative role or exacerbate the clinical appearance of ADHD in a given child. Correct evaluation and treatment of sleep problems increase the life quality of family and child and also decrease the severity of ADHD symptoms.
Objective: Adolescents who were admitted to the child and adolescent psychiatry clinic were compared with respect to the premenstrual symptom severity, psychiatric comorbidities and health related quality of life (HRQoL). Methods: The research group was identified using the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children-Present and Lifetime Version and Premenstrual Assessment Form. They completed the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (The PedsQL). Results: There were 55 adolescents who were eligible for the study and 89% of participants were diagnosed with at least one psychiatric disorder. The most common psychiatric diagnoses among the diagnosed cases were anxiety and major depressive disorders. Of all of the cases, 78.2% were diagnosed with premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and among those cases, 46.5% had mild, 34.8% had moderate and 18.6% had severe PMS. Most common PMS symptom was anger/irritability. HRQoL in the group with PMS was significantly lower than that of the adolescents without PMS. Moreover, HRQoL of adolescents with PMS was found to deteriorate with the increasing severity of PMS. Conclusions: This study is of great importance since it demonstrated that PMS frequency is very high in a clinical adolescent population and negatively affects their HRQoL as similar to non-clinical adolescent population studies.
Background: In the current study, the main aim was investigating the sociodemographic features and sluggish cognitive tempo symptoms of children diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and followed at an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder-specific outpatient clinic. Results: The data of 200 boys and 200 girls who were followed up at the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder outpatient clinic were retrospectively compared. The scores of Turgay’s Scale-Disruptive Behavior Disorders Screening and Rating Scale, the Sluggish Cognitive Tempo subscale of the Children Behavior Checklist, and Conners Rating Scales Revised-Parent and Teacher Forms were analyzed. Among the group with Sluggish Cognitive Tempo scores, the ratio of girls was higher and the mean age at which symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder were recognized and treatment was offered was significantly older than that of the children with <4 scores. Both internalizing and externalizing symptoms were more frequent among the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder children who had Sluggish Cognitive Tempo scores ≥4. Conclusions: There is increasing evidence distinguishing sluggish cognitive tempo from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and in this study, we would like to highlight the appearance and clinical manifestation of these disorders together. Further research, including Sluggish Cognitive Tempo children from the general population, is warranted to understand the characteristics that accompany and differentiate attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
4 February 2025 in Cambridge Prisms: Global Mental Health
This study aimed to investigate the psychological impact of the Turkey 2023 earthquakes on preschool-aged children and to compare them with those with other life-threatening traumas. Thirty-four preschool children who experienced earthquakes on February 6, 2023, and applied to our outpatient clinic in the following 3 months, and 37 other trauma-experienced preschool children were included in this cross-sectional study. Preschool Age Psychiatric Assessment/Post-Traumatic Stress sections were conducted. Parents were asked to complete the Pediatric Emotional Distress Scale and the Child Behavior Checklist for Ages 1.5–5 to evaluate stress-related reactions alongside psychiatric problems of children. The results showed that acute stress disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were more common in the earthquake-experienced group than in the other trauma-experienced group (Fisher’s exact test, 52.9% vs. 8.1%, p < 0.001 and 38.2% vs. 8.1%, p = 0.004, respectively). Migration after the earthquake had no additional impact on trauma-related psychiatric outcomes, either ASD or PTSD (p = .153, and p = 0.106, respectively); whereas sleep problems predicted PTSD (OR = 1.26, β = 0.42, p = 0.036) in the earthquake-experienced group. Our study provides implications for understanding the psychological impact of earthquakes and risk factors for PTSD among preschool children.