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Updated: Jul 3, 2026
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Cortical Source Analysis of High-Density EEG Recordings in Children
Published on: June 30, 2014
Critically Ill Children Show Disrupted Sleep Patterns and Atypical Electroencephalograms: An Observational Cohort
Eris van Twist1, Arnout B G Cramer1, Sascha C A T Verbruggen1
1Division of Paediatric Intensive Care, Department of Neonatal and Paediatric Intensive Care, Erasmus MC Sophia Children's Hospital, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Acta Paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992)
|July 2, 2026
Summary
Critically ill children experience significantly disrupted sleep, with reduced REM and deep sleep stages. Non-critically ill children also show sleep fragmentation, particularly in infancy and older age groups.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric critical care
- Sleep medicine
- Neurophysiology
Background:
- Sleep disruptions are prevalent in hospitalized children.
- Understanding sleep patterns is crucial for critically ill and non-critically ill pediatric patients.
Purpose of the Study:
- To describe and compare sleep characteristics in critically ill and non-critically ill hospitalized children.
- To investigate sleep in young infants and children with central nervous system injuries.
Main Methods:
- Observational cohort study comparing two groups: critically ill children (PICU, ≥48h stay) and non-critically ill children (suspected sleep disordered breathing).
- Sleep was measured using polysomnography.
- Data collected between 2017 and 2022, with comparisons to age-specific reference ranges.
Main Results:
- Critically ill children (n=25) had significantly reduced total sleep time (50.9%), with 96.0% showing reduced Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep and 66.7% reduced deep sleep.
- Electroencephalographic (EEG) abnormalities were frequent (76.0%) in critically ill children.
- Non-critically ill children (n=120) exhibited reduced REM sleep in infancy and fragmented sleep in older children.
Conclusions:
- Critically ill children demonstrate profoundly disrupted sleep architecture and atypical EEG findings.
- Non-critically ill hospitalized children primarily experience reduced and fragmented sleep patterns.
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