To assess subjective and objective sleep disturbances in an egyptan sample of children who have ADHD.

25 medication-free children with a clinical diagnosis of ADHD (21 boys and 4 girls; age range 5-12 years) recruited from outpatient psychiatry clinics- Tanta University Hospital, Egypt, were compared with 20 healthy matched controls.

All 25 children with ADHD and controls underwent a semi-structured psychiatric interview (Kiddie-SADS) and a behavior assessment by Conners Teacher Rating Scale (CTRS), Conners Parents Rating Scale (CPRS), and Swanson, Nolan and Pelham Rating Scale (SNAP-IV). The demographic, clinical and psychiatric information of all children was collected from the histories reported by the parents. All patients and control were administered a sleep questionnaire before undergoing nocturnal video-polysmography.

Parents reported a wide range of frequently occurring sleep disturbances in their children. Objective sleep measures revealed increase of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep latency and a decrease of REM sleep percentage, and decreased duration of sleep in children diagnosed with ADHD (p < 0.01). No significant correlations between objective sleep measures and clinical symptoms were found.

ADHD is associated with specific sleep alterations. The results stress the need for clinicians to routinely screen for the presence of sleep disorders, and found to future evidence-based guidelines on the management of sleep disturbances in children with ADHD.