The CBS News (11/24, Hall, Welch) website reports that for some children “with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), stimulant medications used to control symptoms may keep them from getting the sleep they need,” according to a meta-analysis of nine studies published online in the journal Pediatrics.
MedPage Today (11/24, Walker) reports that “the seven studies that addressed the effect of stimulant medication on sleep latency, or time to onset of sleep, for children with ADHD found a significant and moderate adjusted effect size of 0.54 (95% CI 0.28-0.81; P<0.001).” What’s more, “frequency of medication was a significant moderator of the sleep latency effect, as every additional time the medication was given, the effect size became greater by 0.42 standard deviations, the authors reported.”