A Retrospective Survey of Childhood ADHD Symptomatology Among Adult Narcoleptics
Journal of Attention Disorders: A Journal of Theoretical and Applied Science
Published online on April 11, 2013
Abstract
Objective: This study examined the retrospective history of childhood ADHD symptomatology in an adult narcoleptic population (Narcolepsy Group [NG]: n = 161) compared with a control group (CG: n = 117). Method: Both groups completed the Wender Utah Rating Scale (WURS), a retrospective self-report questionnaire indicating the presence of childhood ADHD symptomatology in adults. Results: Childhood ADHD symptoms were significantly greater in NG than CG (p < .001). Joint prevalence calculations of childhood ADHD symptomatology in NG were more than 8 to 15 times greater than expected. Among NG, those individuals with a greater score on the WURS, indicative of childhood ADHD symptomatology, also had shorter sleep onsets on the Multiple Sleep Latency Test, a common objective measure of sleepiness, t(97) = –7.11, p < .05. Conclusion: It appears that self-reported childhood ADHD symptomatology history among adult narcoleptics is common. Future research is warranted with adult narcoleptics to elucidate the true nature of this. (J. of Att. Dis. 2013; XX(X) 1-XX)