Introduction
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder in children, characterized by two core symptom groups: inattention and/or hyperactivity/impulsivity, which affect or reduce the quality of social, academic, or occupational activities [
1]. ADHD often persists from childhood to adulthood subjects and is also a risk factor for various psychiatric disorders such as oppositional defiant disorder, mood disorder, conduct disorder, substance abuse, and criminal behavior [
2]. Unfortunately, over the past 20 years, the prevalence of this disorder has increased from 6 to 10% [
3‐
5]. This prevalence is consistent with the results of published studies on ADHD in Vietnamese children [
6,
7]. However, the management of ADHD presents numerous challenges due to the association of comorbid psychiatric disorders [
8]. One of the most common comorbidities is sleep disorders. Previous studies showed experience sleep disturbances [
9,
10]. Among these sleep disturbances, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a sleep-related breathing disorder that has been shown to have a strong correlation with ADHD [
11,
12]. Currently, OSA has been defined as a pathological phenomenon characterized by the narrowing or collapse of the upper airway, leading to sleep disruption or fragmentation and oxygen desaturation during sleep. These consequences lead to a variety of clinical manifestations in children with OSA, including sleep disturbances and daytime symptoms, which closely resemble those of ADHD or are referred to as ADHD-like symptoms [
13].
The association between OSA and ADHD has been demonstrated in numerous studies within the high comorbidity rate between these two conditions [
11,
12]. Obviously, children with ADHD seem to have a higher prevalence of OSA (25–30%) compared with children without ADHD (3%) [
12]. The risk of OSA developing is markedly higher in children with ADHD than in the control group [
12]. Inversely, among children with OSA, up to 30% meet the diagnostic criteria for ADHD [
11]. It has been suggested that sleep fragmentation and intermittent hypoxia in subjects with OSA may lead to metabolic changes in certain brain regions, especially in the frontal lobe. These changes might induce dysfunction of higher-order neurocognitive functions, leading to behavioral disorders, problems with maintaining attention, and other related symptoms [
14‐
16].
However, in Vietnam, OSA still receives little attention from pediatric doctors in the management of children with OSA, especially those with ADHD. The clinical phenotype of OSA and ADHD overlap, making more complex in the management of both conditions. For giving clinicians an appropriate and effective approach in the management of children with OSA and ADHD overlap, we conducted this study to determine the prevalence of OSA in children with ADHD, compare the differences in clinical characteristics between the ADHD-OSA and ADHD-nonOSA groups, and identify the correlation between OSA and ADHD in these children.
Methods
Study Design
This was a cross-sectional descriptive study. The study involved children aged 6–12 years diagnosed with ADHD according to DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition) criteria by pediatric psychiatrists at the Viet Nam National Children’s Hospital from October 2022 to September 2023. The children and their caregivers were instructed to complete the research medical records, The Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire (PSQ), and The Vanderbilt ADHD Parent Diagnosis Rating Scale (VAPDRS), and maintain a sleep diary for 2 weeks. Children with a PSQ > 7 underwent respiratory polygraphy (RPG) during their nighttime sleep. Each participant underwent respiratory polygraphy until accurate and reliable results were obtained. This ensured the precision and consistency of the data collected for the study.
General characteristics of the study subjects included age (years), gender, subtype of ADHD, comorbid disorders (ADHD comorbidities), and body mass index (BMI) z-score classification. Additional variables included the Apnea–Hypopnea Index (AHI) index, the lowest saturation of peripheral oxygen (SpO2), clinical symptoms of OSA and ADHD as assessed by pediatric psychiatrists, and ADHD symptoms according to the VADPRS questionnaire.
This study was conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration of 1964 and its later amendments. Ethical approval was obtained from the Biomedical Research Ethics Board of Hanoi Medical University (Approval Number: 794/GCN-HĐĐĐNCYSH-ĐHYHN).
Participants
The study included 524 children aged 6–12 years diagnosed with ADHD based on DSM-5 criteria at the Vietnam National Children’s Hospital between October 2022 and September 2023. Participants were newly diagnosed and had not received ADHD-specific medications. Exclusion criteria included a known history of OSA, prior adenotonsillectomy, ongoing PAP (positive airway pressure) therapy, use of medications affecting sleep (e.g., melatonin, antihistamines), lack of consent, incomplete data, acute or chronic illnesses, other sleep disorders such as RLS (restless legs syndrome), insomnia, circadian rhythm disorders, or parasomnias, and additional comorbidities such as genetic disorders or craniofacial anomalies. These exclusions were determined through clinical evaluations to focus on the relationship between OSA and ADHD. In this study, the participants’ parents/caregivers/legal guardians provided informed consent for their child to participate in this study.
Measurements
The research medical records were developed based on the study’s objectives and included both general information and pathological details on OSA and ADHD. Sleep diaries were used to capture data on sleep duration and daily sleep habits over a 2-week period. Caregivers provided detailed documentation of evening bedtime, sleep onset time, morning wake-up time, total sleep duration within 24 h, and sleep-related habits and behaviors observed before, during, and after sleep.
The Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire (PSQ): the survey questionnaires of OSA in children aged 2 – < 18 years, were completed by caregivers [
17]. The questionnaire consists of 22 questions divided into three groups: seven questions about sleep disorders, nine questions about snoring, and six questions about hyperactivity and inattention. Each question could be answered with "yes," "no," or "don’t know." If more than seven questions were answered with "yes," OSA was suspected in the child [
17]. In this study, we used the PSQ adapted and validated for Vietnamese children [
18]. This version has been confirmed to be reliable and suitable for assessing sleep-disordered breathing in this population.
Respiratory polygraphy (RPG) was conducted using the ApneaLink Air device (ResMed, San Diego, CA, USA), with the measurement duration matching the child’s nighttime sleep for a minimum of four continuous hours. Parameters collected included the AHI and the lowest saturation of SpO
2 during sleep. According to the 3rd International Classification of Sleep Disorders (ICSD-3), the diagnostic criteria for OSA in children include one or more of the following symptoms: snoring; labored, paradoxical, or obstructed breathing during sleep; daytime sleepiness; hyperactivity; behavioral problems; or learning issues, associated with an AHI ≥ 1 event per hour. The severity of OSA was determined by the AHI: mild OSA with 1–5 events/hour, moderate OSA: 5–10 events/hour, and severe OSA: > 10 events/hour [
19].
The Vanderbilt ADHD Parent Diagnosis Rating Scale (VAPDRS) is an assessment tool designed to evaluate hyperactivity and inattention behaviors/symptoms in children aged 6–12 years. It assesses the severity of ADHD symptoms, with higher scores indicating more severe symptoms. The research team used the VAPDRS provided by the Center for Creative Initiatives in Health and Population, with permission granted, as previously made available on the website
https://a365.vn/.
Statistical Analysis
Categorical variables were presented as frequencies and percentages, while continuous variables were presented as means and standard deviations (SD). Differences between proportions were tested using the chi-square test, while mean values for normally distributed data were tested using the t test, and the Mann–Whitney U test was used for non-normally distributed data. The Spearman correlation coefficient was calculated to determine correlations between quantitative variables. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS version 20.0, with a p value < 0.05 considered statistically significant.
Discussion
The present study revealed the prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was 23.3%, significantly higher than the prevalence of OSA in the general pediatric population (1–5%) [
20], consistent with most studies on OSA in children with ADHD [
12]. This result provides further evidence of clinical overlap between these two conditions, as demonstrated by previous studies [
12,
15]. Our study also demonstrated the mean Apnea–Hypopnea Index (AHI) for this study population was higher than 10/h, with more than 50% of children with ADHD-OSA overlap were moderate to severe (Table
1).
The present study showed that the nadir SpO
2 during sleep was very low (Table
1), alarming the severe intermittent hypoxia at night. This finding supports the hypothesis of a link between OSA and ADHD on the consequences of OSA, which may have a negative impact on cognitive functions such as memory, emotion, impulse control, problem-solving, social interaction, and motor function, called ADHD-like [
14,
21]. Therefore, hypoxia during sleep may be a significant factor contributing to the manifestations of ADHD [
21].
Our study also revealed that the prevalence of adenoid/tonsil hypertrophy was significantly higher in the ADHD-OSA group compared to the ADHD-nonOSA group (Table
2), supporting the theory that adenoidtonsillar hypertrophy are common causes of OSA in children [
22]. Additionally, the association between OSA, asthma, allergic rhinitis, and ADHD has been demonstrated in numerous recent studies. These studies have shown that the prevalence of OSA is higher in children with asthma and allergic rhinitis, which are also identified as risk factors for ADHD [
21,
23,
24]. Therefore, it is essential to assess and manage these conditions to reduce their negative impact on sleep quality and ADHD symptoms. Previous studies have identified a correlation between obesity, sleep disorders, and ADHD, suggesting that abnormal eating behaviors related to ADHD may contribute to obesity, which in turn has a strong correlation with OSA [
25]. This could explain why the obesity rate tends to be higher in children with ADHD-OSA. Our findings support this conclusion and also confirm a significantly greater prevalence of obesity in the ADHD-OSA group than in the ADHD-nonOSA group (Table
2).
Obviously, sleep characteristics in children with ADHD are often reported, including difficulty falling asleep—taking more than 30 min, difficulty maintaining sleep, and reduced total sleep duration [
20,
26,
27]. In our study, based on two-week sleep diary recordings, we observed that the sleep characteristics of children with ADHD without OSA were consistent with those reported in previous studies. However, when comparing between groups, the present study showed that children with ADHD-OSA had significantly shorter sleep onset time and longer total sleep time within 24 h (Table
2). This suggests that OSA may impact the quality and structure of sleep in children with ADHD. As a result, children with both disorders may fall asleep more easily but experience poorer sleep quality within more total sleep time [
11].
Children with OSA and nighttime snoring may experience episodes of apnea, also referred to as intermittent breathing stoppages, a symptom frequently reported by parents or caregivers [
28]. Consequently, these children often have restless sleep and frequently move a lot during sleep. Enuresis was also significantly more common in the OSA group compared to the ADHD-nonOSA group (Table
3). It has been demonstrated that sleep fragmentation and intermittent hypoxemia in subjects with OSA may degrade sleep quality, leading to difficulty for waking up in the morning, tiredness upon waking up, and daytime sleepiness [
14].
In the present study, the severity of ADHD symptoms in children with moderate-to-severe OSA was significantly higher than in the mild OSA group (Fig.
2) which associated with positive correlations between OSA severity and inattention, hyperactivity/impulsivity, behavioral disorders, and anxiety/depression scores (Fig.
3). The increased severity of ADHD symptoms in children with ADHD-OSA overlap may reflect the impact of OSA on the development of neurocognitive functions in this population., suggesting the importance of screening and treating OSA in the management of children with ADHD. This suggestion is also supported by previous studies which demonstrated examine the bi-directional correlation between OSA and ADHD [
21,
29]. Thus, OSA should be treated as early as possible to reduce the prevalence of ADHD in children [
21]. However, it is crucial to individualize the treatment of OSA–ADHD overlap based on the clinical phenotype of pediatric OSA to obtain optimal therapeutic outcomes [
30,
31].
Although the current concept of management of OSA–ADHD overlap has been founded on numerous relevant studies with small sample sizes, our study based on a large study population using strict diagnostic criteria contributes additional information in the field. However, the lack of a healthy control group is a main limitation of the present study. Therefore, it is essential to conduct more studies focusing on effective approaches and treatment strategies for children with overlapping OSA and ADHD.
Conclusions
The prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea in children with ADHD is higher than in the general population when stratified by age groups and is predominantly moderate-to-severe OSA. This could be due to the high incidence of obesity, adenoidtonsillar hypertrophy, asthma, and allergic rhinitis in children with ADHD-OSA overlap. Children with OSA–ADHD overlap might have detrimental effects on sleep quality and various sleep-related behavior disorders such as inattention, hyperactivity, behavioral disorders, and anxiety/depression in children with moderate-to-severe OSA–ADHD overlaps. Hence, the appropriate screening and management of OSA is crucial for taking care of children with ADHD.