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08:20

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Normal polysomnography parameters in healthy children: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Annelies Van Eyck1,2,3, Genevieve de Caen4,5,6,3, Julia Bokhaut7

  • 1Laboratory of Experimental Medicine and Pediatrics and Member of the Infla-Med Centre of Excellence, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium annelies.vaneyck@uantwerpen.be.

European Respiratory Review : an Official Journal of the European Respiratory Society
|May 13, 2026
PubMed

Insights

This study establishes normative polysomnography values for children, crucial for diagnosing sleep disorders. These findings provide essential reference data for pediatric sleep research and clinical practice.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Sleep Medicine
  • Neuroscience
  • Biostatistics

Background:

  • Lack of established normative values for polysomnography parameters in children.
  • Need for age- and sex-adjusted reference data for accurate pediatric sleep assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To conduct a comprehensive meta-analysis of pediatric polysomnography parameters.
  • To establish normative values using recent scoring criteria, adjusted for age and sex.

Main Methods:

  • Systematic search of Web of Science and Scopus for studies on healthy children.
  • Inclusion of studies using American Academy of Sleep Medicine criteria (2007/2012).
  • Random-effects meta-analysis and meta-regression to assess age and sex influences.

Main Results:

  • Pooled estimates for 34 polysomnography parameters from 66 studies (2947 children).
  • Identified age-related decreases in total sleep time, REM sleep, and arousal indices.
  • Observed age-related increases in awakenings and oxygen saturation nadir; sleep latency influenced by sex.

Conclusions:

  • Provides normative polysomnographic data for the pediatric population.
  • Establishes crucial control values for clinical diagnosis and research.
  • Facilitates more accurate interpretation of sleep studies in children.
Abstract

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