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Characteristics of sleep in children with heavy prenatal alcohol exposure

Sarah M Inkelis1, Jacqueline Soja2, Sarah N Mattson2

  • 1Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA.

Alcohol, Clinical & Experimental Research
|March 24, 2024
PubMed

Insights

Children with prenatal alcohol exposure exhibit greater sleep variability and more parental-reported sleep issues, including night wakings and daytime sleepiness. These sleep disturbances may impact quality of life and warrant targeted interventions.

Area of Science:

  • Neurodevelopmental science
  • Sleep medicine
  • Pediatric health

Background:

  • Sleep is crucial for neurodevelopment.
  • Prenatal alcohol exposure's impact on sleep quality is understudied.
  • Sleep disturbances are reported in infants exposed to alcohol and children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To characterize sleep patterns in children with prenatal alcohol exposure.
  • To compare objective and subjective sleep measures between alcohol-exposed and control groups.
  • To investigate the relationship between prenatal alcohol exposure and sleep quality.

Main Methods:

  • Included children aged 6-10 years, with (n=35) and without (n=39) prenatal alcohol exposure.
  • Utilized 2-week actigraphy for objective sleep measurement.
  • Employed parental sleep diaries and validated sleep questionnaires for subjective data.

Main Results:

  • No significant differences in average sleep metrics over 2 weeks between groups.
  • Alcohol-exposed group showed greater intraindividual variability in total sleep time, sleep percentage, wake after sleep onset, and wake bouts.
  • Parents reported more sleep problems in the alcohol-exposed group, including night wakings, parasomnias, snoring, and daytime sleepiness, particularly in older children (>8.5 years).

Conclusions:

  • Children with prenatal alcohol exposure demonstrate increased sleep variability and parental-reported sleep issues despite similar average sleep duration.
  • Sleep difficulties in this population may be linked to cognitive and behavioral outcomes.
  • Interventions targeting sleep variability, especially duration, can improve quality of life for affected children and families.
Abstract

Keywords:
actigraphyfetal alcohol spectrum disorderintraindividual variabilityprenatal alcohol exposuresleep

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