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The sleep macroarchitecture of children at risk for depression recruited in sleep centers
F Bat-Pitault1, D Da Fonseca, S Cortese
1Child and Adolescent Psychopathology Unit, Salvator Hospital, Public Assistance-Marseille Hospitals, University Aix-Marseille II, 13009 Marseille, France. flora.bat@ap-hm.fr
Insights
Children and adolescents with a history of maternal depression showed more depressive symptoms. Only adolescents in this high-risk group experienced significant changes in sleep macroarchitecture, including increased wakefulness after sleep onset (WASO) and decreased sleep efficiency.
Area of Science:
- Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
- Sleep Medicine
- Reproductive Psychiatry
Background:
- Maternal depression is a significant risk factor for offspring mental health.
- Understanding the impact of maternal depression on child and adolescent sleep is crucial for early intervention.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare sleep macroarchitecture between children and adolescents with and without a maternal history of depression.
- To investigate the association between maternal depression history and offspring depressive symptoms and sleep patterns.
Main Methods:
- Utilized polysomnography (PSG) and Holter electroencephalogram (EEG) to assess sleep architecture.
- Included 35 children/adolescents with maternal depression history (high-risk) and 25 controls (low-risk).
- Measured sleep parameters including total sleep time, wakefulness after sleep onset (WASO), sleep efficiency, and REM latency, alongside participant depressive symptoms.
Main Results:
- High-risk children (4-12 years) showed more depressive symptoms but no significant PSG differences compared to controls.
- High-risk adolescents (13-18 years) exhibited more depressive symptoms, increased WASO, and decreased sleep efficiency compared to controls.
- No significant differences in other measured sleep parameters were found between high-risk and control groups in either age category.
Conclusions:
- Children and adolescents born to mothers with a history of depression present with higher rates of depressive symptoms.
- Sleep macroarchitecture alterations, specifically increased WASO and reduced sleep efficiency, were observed only in high-risk adolescents.
- Findings suggest that sleep macroarchitecture changes associated with maternal depression history may emerge during adolescence.
Objective:
The primary aim of this study was to compare the sleep macroarchitecture of children and adolescents whose mothers have a history of depression with children and adolescents whose mothers do not.
Method:
Polysomnography (PSG) and Holter electroencephalogram (EEG) were used to compare the sleep architecture of 35 children whose mothers had at least one previous depressive episode (19 boys, aged 4-18 years, "high-risk" group) and 25 controls (13 males, aged 4-18 years, "low-risk" group) whose mothers had never had a depressive episode. The total sleep time, wakefulness after sleep onset (WASO), sleep latency, sleep efficiency, number of awakenings per hour of sleep, percentages of time spent in each sleep stage, rapid eye movement (REM) latency and the depressive symptoms of participants were measured.
Results:
In children (4-12 years old), the high-risk group exhibited significantly more depressive symptoms than controls (P=0.02). However, PSG parameters were not significantly different between high-risk children and controls. In adolescents (13-18 years old), the high-risk subjects presented with significantly more depressive symptoms (P=0.003), a significant increase in WASO (P=0.019) and a significant decrease in sleep efficiency compared to controls (P=0.009).
Conclusion:
This study shows that children and adolescents born from mothers with a history of at least one depressive episode had significantly more depressive symptoms than controls. However, only high-risk adolescents presented with concurrent alterations of sleep macroarchitecture.
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