Related Experiment Videos
Sleep problems of school-aged children: a complementary view
E J Paavonen1, E T Aronen, I Moilanen
1Department of Child Psychiatry, University of Helsinki, Finland.
Acta Paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992)
|March 10, 2000
Summary
Many children experience sleep problems, with nearly a third of cases missed if only parents report. Including child reports improves detection of disturbed sleep in children.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Sleep Medicine
- Child Psychology
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Sleep problems are common in children and can impact health.
- Previous studies often rely solely on parental reports, potentially underestimating prevalence.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the prevalence of sleep problems in 8-9-year-old Finnish children.
- To compare sleep problem reporting between children and parents.
- To assess the impact of using single vs. dual informants on detection rates.
Main Methods:
- Population-based multicentre study involving 5813 Finnish children (8-9 years old).
- Data collected through questionnaires completed by both children and their parents.
- Analysis of sleep problem prevalence, types (dyssomnias), and informant agreement.
Main Results:
- 21.7% of parents and 17.8% of children reported disturbed sleep.
- Dyssomnias included difficulties with sleep onset (11.1%), night waking (7.1%), and early waking (2.3%).
- Poor agreement (kappa = 0.224) between child and parent reports; using only parents missed one-third of cases.
Conclusions:
- Childhood sleep problems are prevalent and varied, including dyssomnias.
- Dual reporting (child and parent) significantly increases the sensitivity of screening for sleep problems.
- Clinical and epidemiological assessments should incorporate both child and parent perspectives for accurate diagnosis.