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Sleep disturbances in children with multiple disabilities

Anna-Lena Tietze1, Markus Blankenburg, Tanja Hechler

  • 1Vodafone Foundation Institute and Chair for Children's Pain Therapy and Paediatric Palliative Care, Witten/Herdecke University, Children's Hospital Datteln, 45711 Datteln, Germany. a.tietze@kinderklinik-datteln.de

Sleep Medicine Reviews
|May 31, 2011
PubMed

Insights

Sleep disturbances are common in disabled children, affecting 67% of those studied. Research highlights the need for validated tools to assess sleep issues and develop effective treatments for this population.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Sleep Medicine
  • Child Neurology
  • Disability Studies

Background:

  • Sleep disturbances are clinically significant in disabled children, yet research is limited.
  • Data on the frequency, severity, and causes of sleep disturbances in this group are scarce.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review existing research on sleep disturbances in disabled children.
  • To identify future research objectives in this area.

Main Methods:

  • A systematic literature search was conducted across international databases (1980-2009).
  • Information on sample characteristics, sleep assessment tools, and their quality criteria was extracted.
  • Findings from 61 publications involving 4392 patients were analyzed.

Main Results:

  • Sleep disturbances were prevalent in 67% of disabled children (76% in mixed diagnoses, 65% in specified diagnoses).
  • Prevalence exceeded 90% in children with severe global cerebral injury.
  • Insomnia and sleep-related respiratory disorders were the most frequent symptoms, sometimes linked to specific medical syndromes.

Conclusions:

  • There is a critical need for sleep disturbance assessment tools validated for disabled children.
  • Validated tools will enable investigation into causative patient factors and development of targeted treatments.
Abstract

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