Alcohol misuse and insomnia were significantly correlated with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptom severity, according to results of a cross-sectional study published in Frontiers in Psychology.
Among adults without a clinical diagnosis of ADHD, heavy alcohol use predicted more severe ADHD symptoms.
Researchers at the University of Bergen in Norway recruited patients with ADHD from a national registry of adults diagnosed between 1997 and 2005, as well as healthy controls randomly recruited from the Medical Birth Registry of Norway. Adults with an ADHD diagnosis (n=235) and controls (n=184) completed a questionnaire assessing insomnia, alcohol consumption, and current ADHD symptoms.
The researchers used the Bergen Insomnia Scale, Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), and Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS) to capture symptoms. Patients with ADHD had the option to provide information on childhood ADHD and lifetime internalizing symptoms. Independent sample t-tests and Chi-square tests were used to capture differences between the groups. Linear regression analyses were performed with ASRS scores as the outcome variable.
