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Published on: October 2, 2019
Sleep Macrostructure and NREM Sleep Instability Analysis in Pediatric Developmental Coordination Disorder
Maria Esposito1, Francesco Precenzano2, Ilaria Bitetti3
1Clinic of Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry, Department of Mental Health, Physical and Preventive Medicine, Università degli Studi della Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli," via Sergio Pansini 5, 80100 Naples, Italy. maria.esposito3@unicampania.it.
Insights
Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) exhibit significant sleep structure abnormalities. These sleep issues, particularly rapid A-phase components, may impact motor coordination development.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Pediatrics
- Sleep Medicine
Background:
- Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) involves impaired motor skills without sensory, cognitive, or neurological deficits.
- DCD affects daily life activities across all age groups.
- Sleep disturbances are increasingly recognized as potential factors in neurodevelopmental disorders.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate sleep structure and Cyclic Alternating Pattern (CAP) parameters in children with DCD.
- To explore correlations between sleep architecture, CAP parameters, and motor coordination skills in children.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional study comparing 42 children with DCD to 79 typically developing children.
- Utilized overnight polysomnography (PSG) for detailed sleep analysis.
- Assessed motor coordination using the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2 (MABC-2).
Main Results:
- Significant differences in sleep architecture and CAP parameters were observed between the DCD and non-DCD groups.
- Identified significant correlations between specific sleep parameters and motor coordination skills.
- DCD children demonstrated notable abnormalities in their sleep structure.
Conclusions:
- Children with DCD exhibit distinct sleep structure abnormalities.
- The rapid components of A phases in sleep may play a crucial role in motor coordination development.
- Findings suggest sleep monitoring and intervention could be beneficial for children with DCD.
Abstract:
Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) is considered to be abnormal motor skills learning, identified by clumsiness, slowness, and/or motor inaccuracy impairing the daily-life activities in all ages of life, in the absence of sensory, cognitive, or neurological deficits impairment. The present research focuses on studying DCD sleep structure and Cyclic Alternating Pattern (CAP) parameters with a full overnight polysomnography and to study the putative correlations between sleep architecture and CAP parameters with motor coordination skills. The study was a cross-sectional design involving 42 children (26M/16F; mean age 10.12 ± 1.98) selected as a DCD group compared with 79 children (49M/30F; mean age 9.94 ± 2.84) identified as typical (no-DCD) for motor ability and sleep macrostructural parameters according to the MABC-2 and polysomnographic (PSG) evaluations. The two groups (DCD and non-DCD) were similar for age (p = 0.715) and gender (p = 0.854). More significant differences in sleep architecture and CAP parameters were found between two groups and significant correlations were identified between sleep parameters and motor coordination skills in the study population. In conclusion, our data show relevant abnormalities in sleep structure of DCD children and suggest a role for rapid components of A phases on motor coordination development.
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