# Sleep Dysfunction and Neurocognitive Outcomes in Adolescent ADHD

> **NIH NIH K23** · DUKE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $157,648

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
The goal of this K23 Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award is to broaden the
candidate’s expertise in sleep disturbance and neurocognition in adolescents with Attention-
Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). ADHD in adolescence is frequently predictive of detrimental academic
and social outcomes. In part, poor functioning may be due to neurocognitive deficits observed in ADHD;
however, the extent of these deficits is variable and the mechanisms contributing to greater impairment in
some individuals and not others are poorly understood. Sleep disturbance represents one potential contributor
to the neurocognitive abnormalities observed in a subset of youth with ADHD. Specifically, disturbed sleep is
prevalent in ADHD and there is considerable overlap between core ADHD features and the neurocognitive
correlates of sleep impairment. However, associations between sleep physiology and variable clinical and
neurocognitive outcomes in ADHD youth have yet to be investigated. Training objectives for the proposed K23
will include gaining expertise in advanced laboratory-based administration, scoring, and analysis of
polysomnographic data, assessment of neurocognitive and clinical correlates of sleep impairment in ADHD,
and enhanced understanding of developmental trajectories of sleep function in typically developing and ADHD
adolescents. These objectives will be met through mentoring, research, and coursework, which will result in an
independently funded program of research to elucidate the biological mechanisms underlying sleep problems
and neurocognitive impairment in ADHD and develop innovative sleep-based interventions targeting core
symptoms in this population. Dr. Scott Kollins, the primary mentor for this application, has a strong record of
clinical research assessing clinical and neurocognitive outcomes in ADHD. He is the director of the established
research training site where the applicant will be trained. The research plan involves using polysomnography to
assess sleep disturbance and neurocognitive outcomes in adolescents with ADHD and healthy controls (HC).
The primary hypothesis predicts that adolescents with ADHD will display reduced duration, increased latency,
increased nocturnal awakenings, reduced delta power, and disrupted sleep spindles compared to HC.
Variability within groups is predicted, and we will explore whether there are distinct subgroups with and without
sleep problems within the ADHD group. In addition, sleep disturbance is predicted to be associated with poorer
neurocognitive and clinical presentations in ADHD adolescents. If these hypotheses are supported, sleep
disturbance may represent a biomarker for phenotypic subtypes of ADHD. In addition, examining this construct
may inform development of prevention and intervention strategies with the potential to impact sleep
disturbance as well as core symptoms of ADHD in adolescents.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10007896
- **Project number:** 5K23MH108704-05
- **Recipient organization:** DUKE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Jessica Ruth Lunsford-Avery
- **Activity code:** K23 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $157,648
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-08-01 → 2022-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10007896

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10007896, Sleep Dysfunction and Neurocognitive Outcomes in Adolescent ADHD (5K23MH108704-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-29 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10007896. Licensed CC0.

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