Sleep disorders predict the one-year onset, persistence, but not remission of psychotic experiences in pre-adolescence: a longitudinal analysis of the ABCD cohort data

The relationship between sleep disorder and psychotic experiences in preadolescence has not been extensively studied despite the potential for intervention. The current study addresses this relationship using the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) cohort, which provides baseline data from 11,830 10 to 11-year-olds; for 4910 of these 1-year follow-up data is also available. A set of pre-registered multi-level regression models were applied to test whether a) sleep disorder is associated with psychotic experiences at baseline; b) baseline sleep disorder predicts psychotic experiences at follow-up; c) the persistence of sleep disorder predicts persistence of psychotic experiences at follow-up; d) the remission of sleep disorder predicts the remission of psychotic experiences at follow-up. After controlling for potential confounders, sleep disorder was associated with psychotic experiences cross-sectionally (OR=1.40, 95% CI 1.20-1.63), at one-year follow-up (OR=1.32, 95% CI 1.11-1.57), and the persistence of sleep disorder predicted the persistence of psychotic experiences (OR=1.72, 95% CI 1.44-2.04). However, remission of sleep problems did not predict remission of psychotic experiences (OR=1.041, 95% CI 0.80-1.35). The results indicate that sleep disorders in preadolescence are common and associated with psychotic experiences, although the lack of co-remission raises questions about the mechanism of association. However, given these findings, and existing evidence in later adolescence and adults, further investigation of sleep as a preventative mental health intervention in this age group is warranted.