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Periodic Limb Movement Disorder and
Restless Legs Syndrome in Children With
Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
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Daniel L,Picchietti; MD;Sandra
J. England , PhD; Arthur S. Walters , MD;Kevin willis, BA; Tracy
Verrico,BA |
ABSTRACT
Sleep disruption can lead to
symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)in
children . Since periodic limb movemint disorders and/or restless
legs syndrome can cause sleep disruption, we assessed whether these
two specific sleep disorders are likely to occur in children with
ADHD. We asked a series of 69 consecutive parents of children with
ADHD questions about the symptoms of periodic limb movement
disorder. Based on a positive response to these periodic limb
movement disorder queries , 27 children underwent all-night
polysomnography. Eighteen children (aged 2 to 15 years) of the 27
(26% of the 69 children with ADHD ) had 5 or more periodic leg
movements in sleep per hour of sleep and had complaints of sleep
disruption , thus fulfilling the criteria for periodic limb movement
disorder. A comparably age- and sex-matched group of children
referred to sleep laboratory for sleep complaints but without ADHD
showed only a 5% prevalence (2 of 38 subjects) of periodic leg
movements in sleep (p=.017). Eight of the 18 children with ADHD and
periodic limb movement disorder and one of the two control patients
with periodic limb movement disorder had both a personal and
parental history of restless legs syndrome symptomatology. This
study further documents the occurrence of periodic limb movement
disorder and restless legs syndrome in children and first
large-scale study establishing a possible comrbidity between ADHD
and periodic limb movement disorder . We propose that the sleep
disruption associated with periodic limb movement disorder and
restless legs syndrome and the motor restlessness of restless legs
syndrome while awake could contribute to the inattention and
huperactivity seen in a subgroup of ADHD-diagnosed children.(J Child
Neurol 1998;13:588-594).
Journal of Child Neurology |
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