A systematic review of circadian function chronot

Authors: Andrew N Coogan Niall M McGowan

Publish Date: 2017/01/07

Volume: 9, Issue: 3, Pages: 129-147

PDF Link

Abstract

Reports of sleep disturbances in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ADHD are common in both children and adults however the aetiology of such disturbances is poorly understood One potentially important mechanism which may be implicated in disrupted sleep in ADHD is the circadian clock a known key regulator of the sleep/wake cycle In this systematic review we analyse the evidence for circadian rhythm changes associated with ADHD as well as assessing evidence for therapeutic approaches involving the circadian clock in ADHD We identify 62 relevant studies involving a total of 4462 ADHD patients We find consistent evidence indicating that ADHD is associated with more eveningness/later chronotype and with phase delay of circadian phase markers such as dim light melatonin onset and delayed sleep onset We find that there is evidence that melatonin treatment may be efficacious in addressing ADHDrelated sleep problems although there are few studies to date addressing other chronotherapeutic approaches in ADHD There are only a small number of genetic association studies which report linkages between polymorphisms in circadian clock genes and ADHD symptoms In conclusion we find that there is consistent evidence for circadian rhythm disruption in ADHD and that such disruption may present a therapeutic target that future ADHD research might concentrate explicitly on

Keywords: