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Sleep in Offspring of Parents With Mood Disorders

Delainey L Wescott1,2, Jessica Morash-Conway3, Alyson Zwicker3,4

  • 1Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada.

Frontiers in Psychiatry
|April 27, 2019
PubMed

Insights

Children of parents with major depressive disorder (MDD) or bipolar disorder show distinct sleep patterns. These early sleep differences may predict future mood disorder risk in high-risk offspring.

Area of Science:

  • Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
  • Sleep Medicine
  • Genetics and Mental Health

Background:

  • Childhood sleep problems are early indicators of mood disorders in individuals with a high familial risk.
  • Research has primarily focused on diagnosed individuals, overlooking sleep variations in high-risk offspring.
  • This study investigates weeknight vs. weekend sleep differences in offspring of parents with major depressive disorder (MDD) or bipolar disorder.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine sleep parameters in offspring of parents with major depressive disorder (MDD) or bipolar disorder.
  • To compare weeknight and weekend sleep patterns between high-risk offspring and control groups.
  • To identify potential early sleep markers associated with familial risk for mood disorders.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized actigraphy, sleep diaries, and questionnaires for sleep characteristic measurement.
  • Included 73 offspring (ages 4-19): 23 from MDD parents, 22 from bipolar disorder parents, and 28 controls.
  • Analyzed sleep duration and variations between weeknights and weekends.

Main Results:

  • Offspring of parents with MDD exhibited longer average weeknight sleep (26 minutes longer than controls).
  • Offspring of parents with bipolar disorder showed a significant weekend vs. weeknight sleep increase (27 minutes longer on weekends).
  • A significant interaction between family history and weekend sleep patterns was observed.

Conclusions:

  • Sleep patterns in children and adolescents are associated with parental psychiatric diagnoses.
  • Early sleep differences may clarify the relationship between familial risk and mood disorder development.
  • Further research can elucidate the predictive value of these sleep variations for future mood disorders.

Keywords:
actigraphybipolar disordercohort studyhigh-risk offspringmajor depressive disordersevere mental illnesssleep

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