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Medical complaints are more common in young school-aged children with parent reported insomnia symptoms

Ravi Singareddy1, Sumana Moole, Susan Calhoun

  • 1Sleep Research & Treatment Center, Department of Psychiatry, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, USA. rsingareddy@psu.edu

Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine : JCSM : Official Publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine
|May 15, 2010
PubMed

Insights

Children with insomnia symptoms frequently experience gastrointestinal issues and headaches. This highlights the need to consider sleep problems when diagnosing medical complaints in children.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Sleep Medicine
  • Child Neurology
  • Pediatric Gastroenterology

Background:

  • Sleep disturbances are linked to medical issues in adults, but research in children is limited.
  • Few studies have investigated the prevalence of medical complaints in children experiencing insomnia symptoms within a general population sample.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine the prevalence of medical complaints in school-aged children with insomnia symptoms.
  • To explore the association between insomnia symptoms and specific medical complaints in a pediatric cohort.

Main Methods:

  • A cross-sectional study involving 700 children (ages 5-12) from the Penn State Children's Cohort.
  • Data collection included medical/psychiatric history, physical examination, polysomnography, neuropsychological testing, and parent-completed questionnaires.
  • Comparison between 135 children with sleep disturbances and 565 without.

Main Results:

  • Insomnia symptoms were significantly associated with gastrointestinal regurgitation (OR 3.3) and headaches (OR 2.3) in children.
  • These associations remained significant after controlling for demographic, psychiatric, and sleep-related variables.
  • Children with sleep disturbances showed objectively increased sleep latency and differences in REM latency and sleep stages.

Conclusions:

  • Inquiring about insomnia is crucial for children presenting with gastrointestinal issues or headaches.
  • A comprehensive medical history is essential when children exhibit sleep complaints.
  • Further research is needed to understand the pathophysiology of insomnia and medical symptom comorbidity in children.
Abstract

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