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The assessment of sleep in pediatric chronic pain sufferers

Rocío de la Vega1, Jordi Miró

  • 1Unit for the Study and Treatment of Pain-ALGOS, Centre de Recerca en Avaluació i Mesura del Comportament, Institut d'Investigació Sanitària Pere Virgili, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Catalonia, Spain. rocio.delavega@urv.cat

Sleep Medicine Reviews
|July 4, 2012
PubMed

Insights

Assessing sleep in pediatric chronic pain requires both subjective (questionnaires) and objective (polysomnography, actigraphy) methods. Two questionnaires are well-established, while objective measures offer different insights but are less frequently used.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Pain Management
  • Sleep Medicine
  • Clinical Assessment

Background:

  • Sleep disturbances are common in pediatric chronic pain populations.
  • Accurate sleep assessment is crucial for effective treatment.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review available subjective and objective methods for assessing sleep in pediatric chronic pain.
  • To evaluate the reliability and validity of these assessment tools.

Main Methods:

  • Systematic literature search of multiple databases (inception to June 2011).
  • Identification and review of subjective (questionnaires) and objective (polysomnography, actigraphy) sleep measures.
  • Evaluation based on evidence-based assessment criteria.

Main Results:

  • Nine sleep questionnaires were identified; two are considered well-established for this population.
  • Objective measures (polysomnography and actigraphy) have been used less frequently.
  • Polysomnography is reliable for sleep stages but costly; actigraphy is cheaper and easier but measures limited sleep dimensions.

Conclusions:

  • A multi-level, multi-method approach combining objective and subjective assessments is recommended for robust sleep evaluation.
  • Integrating both approaches enhances the reliability and validity of sleep assessment in pediatric chronic pain.

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