Nocturnal enuresis and poor sleep quality

Sleep disorders are strongly associated with childhood nocturnal enuresis (NE). In this study, we examined whether sleep disorders are present in children with NE, and whether NE is caused by sleeping disorders, or is simply comorbid.

We examined 14 children with monosymptomatic NE and 15 age-matched controls. Sleep disorders were assessed for ≥5 days using contactless biomotion sensors to detect breathing and body movements during at-home sleep. To assess sleep quality, we compared median sleep efficiency and the number of shallow sleep episodes between the groups. We also investigated the change in sleep quality after successful NE treatment in five children.

Median sleep efficiency was significantly lower in the NE group (87.3%) than in the control group (93.4%; P < 0.001). The number of shallow sleep episodes per night was significantly higher in the NE group (5.11) than in the control group (1.50; P < 0.001). Neither sleep efficiency nor the number of shallow sleep episodes improved in the five children whose NE was successfully stopped after bedwetting-alarm therapy (P = 0.50 and 0.22, respectively).

Sleep disorders are present in children with NE. Although there are insufficient data to conclude that sleep disorders are not the cause of NE, we suggest that they are comorbid because sleep disorders persisted even after NE was halted.