Search

Objective: Sleep difficulties are associated with cognitive and behavioral problems in childhood. However, it is still unclear whether early sleep difficulties are related to later development. We studied whether parent-reported sleep duration, night awakenings, and parent-reported sleep problems in early childhood are associated with symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity at the age of 5 years., Method: Our study is based on the Child-Sleep birth cohort initially comprising 1673 families, of which 713 were retained at the age of 5 years. We used the Brief Infant Sleep Questionnaire and the Infant Sleep Questionnaire, which were filled out by the parents when their child was 3, 8, and 24 months and 5 years old. Symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity at the age of 5 years were assessed using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and the Five-to-Fifteen questionnaire., Results: Sleep duration at the age of 3, 8, and 24 months was associated with inattentiveness at 5 years of age. Moreover, parent-reported sleep problems at the age of 24 months were related to both inattentive and hyperactive symptoms at the age of 5 years. Finally, at the age of 5 years, parent-reported sleep problems and night awakenings were associated with concurrent symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity., Conclusion: Our findings suggest that certain sleep characteristics related to sleep quality and quantity in early childhood are associated with inattentiveness and hyperactivity at the age of 5 years. Interestingly, sleep duration in early childhood is consistently related to inattention at the age of 5 years.

This study compared sleep in patients with Conduct Disorder/Oppositional Defiant Disorder (CD/ODD) and normative children and evaluated the associations between sleep and behavioral symptoms in patients. Participants were 30 patients, aged 7 to 12 years, with diagnoses of CD/ODD and their age and gender matched controls. Patients with CD/ODD and their parents reported significantly more sleep problems than did the control children and their parents (p values < 0.01). By actigraphy, CD/ODD children with comorbid ADHD slept significantly less than did the patients with CD/ODD alone and the controls. In patients, low sleep amount and efficiency associated with increased amount of parent-reported externalizing symptoms (r = -0.72, 0.66, p values < 0.001). Results highlight the need of evaluating sleep in children with CD/ODD. Improving their sleep may ease their symptoms.

We studied the relationship between sleep quality and quantity and subsequently recorded automatically evoked event-related potential (ERP) responses. In previous studies decrement of attentional processing has been associated with changes in sleep. Sleep is shown to associate also with ERPs elicited by unattended sound stream, however, there is no consensus on these effects. A recent study suggested that the early anterior P3a to novel stimuli in attended stream is attenuated and the late parietal P3a is strengthened by total sleep deprivation. We carried out 72-h consecutive actigraphy measurements in a naturalistic setting to collect information about variation in sleep duration, sleep onset latency, sleep efficiency, and percentage of sleep. MMN and P3a deflections to infrequent changes in sound duration and pitch in unattended sound stream were obtained in a separate recording session from the same subjects when they were awake. No significant correlations were found between sleep and MMN parameters, indicating that MMN is resistant to normal variation in sleep. However, P3a to both pitch and duration changes correlated positively with sleep onset latency, and P3a to duration changes correlated negatively with sleep efficiency and percentage of sleep. The correlation was higher in the posterior scalp areas. Our results suggest that the involuntary attention switching system, reflected by the P3a is sensitized as a function of decreased sleep quality.

Background: Knowledge of the continuity of sleep problems and the associations between sleep and psychiatric symptoms in child psychiatric patients is scarce. Objectives: To investigate the persistency of sleep problems and how sleep at preschool age predicts sleep problems and psychiatric symptoms at school age in child psychiatric patients. Methods: Participants (n = 68) were child psychiatry outpatients at Helsinki University Hospital in 2015–2017. Caregivers evaluated sleep with the Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children (SDSC) and psychiatric symptoms with the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) at baseline (age 4–7 years) and again at follow-up (age 8–13 years). Family background information was collected at both time points. Results: Sleep problems at preschool age predicted sleep problems at school age (R2Adjusted =.48, p <.001). Persistent sleep problems associated strongly with the intensity of psychiatric symptoms (p =.001). Internalizing symptoms were predicted by sleep problems (p =.038) even after controlling for age, sex, and psychiatric symptoms at preschool age. Conclusion: Sleep problems are prevalent and persistent and relate to psychiatric symptoms in children treated at child psychiatry clinics. These results emphasize the need for identification and treatment of sleep problems in these children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Sleep may underlie psychiatric symptoms in young children. However, not many studies have reported on sleep and its associations with symptoms in young child psychiatric patients. Objectives: To assess the amount and quality of sleep and how sleep associates with psychiatric symptoms in young child psychiatric patients. Furthermore, we evaluated how sleep and daytime somnolence differed in patients and their age- and gender-matched controls. Method: The sample consisted of 139 3- to 7-year-old child psychiatric outpatients and 139 age- and gender-matched controls from community. We evaluated sleep and daytime somnolence with the Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children in all children and psychiatric symptoms with Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) in the patient group. Family background information was collected from the patients. Results: Of the patients, 31.6% had a significant sleep problem and 14.4% slept too little. The most typical sleep problems were restless sleep (31.7%), morning tiredness (21.6%) and difficulties getting to sleep at night (18.7%). All types of sleep problems were associated with CBCL total, internalising and externalising problems (all p-values < .01). We observed a strong association between all types of sleep problems and emotionally reactive subscale (p-value < .001). Furthermore, parent-reported sleep problems increased significantly the risk of having high scores on total (odds ratio (OR) = 5.3, 95% confidence interval (CI) = [2.2, 12.6], p < .001), external (OR = 3.7, 95%, CI = [1.6, 8.5], p < .01) and internal (OR = 2.5, 95% CI = [1.1, 5.5], p < .05) scores after controlling for age, gender, family structure and parent’s educational level. Even mild sleep disturbance increased the intensity of psychiatric symptoms. Compared to controls, patients slept less (p < .001) and had significantly more frequent restless sleep, nightmares and morning and daytime somnolence. Conclusion: Sleep problems and too little sleep are prevalent in young child psychiatric patients, and they relate strongly to the intensity of psychiatric symptoms. Identification and treatment of sleep problems should be a routine part of the treatment plan for young child psychiatric patients. The results emphasise the need for assessing sleep in young child psychiatric patients, as treating the sleep problem may reduce psychiatric symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between sleep, including both qualitative and quantitative aspects, and delinquent behaviour while controlling for psychopathic features of adolescents and parental supervision at bedtime. We analysed data from a nationally representative sample of 4855 Finnish adolescents (mean age 15.3 years, 51% females). Sleep problems, hours of sleep and delinquency were evaluated via self-report. Psychopathic features were measured with the Antisocial Process Screening Device - Self-Report. In negative binomial regressions, gender and sleep-related variables acted as predictors for both property and violent crime after controlling for psychopathic features and parental supervision at bedtime. The results suggest that both sleep problems (at least three times per week, at least for a year) and an insufficient amount of sleep (less than 7 h) are associated with property crime and violent behaviour, and the relationship is not explained by gender, degree of parental supervision at bedtime or co-occurring psychopathic features. These results suggest that sleep difficulties and insufficient amount of sleep are associated with delinquent behaviour in adolescents. The significance of addressing sleep-related problems, both qualitative and quantitative, among adolescents is thus highlighted. Implications for a prevention technique of delinquent behaviour are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To study the associations between sleep quality/quantity and performance in auditory/visual working memory tasks of different load levels.Method: Sixty schoolchildren aged 6 to 13 years from normal school classes voluntarily participated. Actigraphy measurement was done during a typical school week for 72 consecutive hours. It was timed together with the working memory experiments to obtain information on children's sleep during that period. The n-back task paradigm was used to examine auditory and visual working memory functions.Results: Lower sleep efficiency and longer sleep latency were associated with a higher percentage of incorrect responses in working memory tasks at all memory load levels (partial correlations, controlling for age, all p values < .05, except in visual 0-back and auditive 2-back tasks); shorter sleep duration was associated with performing tasks at the highest load level only (partial correlations, controlling for age,p < .05). Also in general linear models (controlling for age, gender, and socioeconomic status), sleep efficiency (F = 11.706, p = .050) and latency (F = 3.588, p = .034) were significantly associated with the mean incorrect response rate in auditory working memory tasks.Conclusions: Sleep quality and quantity affect performance of working memory tasks in school-age children. In children with learning difficulties the possibility of underlying sleep problems should be excluded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]