Sleep Problems in Middle Childhood- Risk Factors and Consequences

Background to research

Sleep problems are very common in childhood, including bedtime refusal, frequent night awakenings, nightmares and snoring. Approximately 25% of all children experience some type of sleep problem some time during childhood. Sleep is vitally important for normal growth and development in childhood and sleep problems are associated with problems with daytime behaviour and learning. However much more information is needed about which children are at risk of problems, and how the sleep problem leads to daytime problems.

What are your research objectives?

This research will provide important information regarding the factors associated with the development of sleep problems in school-age children, and the consequences of those problems, especially in relation to learning and behaviour. We hope it will lead to guidelines for health professionals for the early detection and treatment of sleep problems in New Zealand children.

How will you conduct your research?

Mothers were interviewed in the week following delivery of their infant. Data has been collected subsequently by parent interviews and assessments of the children at the Children’s Research Centre at Starship Children’s Hospital at age 1 year, 3.5 years and 7 years. Assessment of sleep problems has included a questionnaire completed by parents, plus quantifying sleep using a small movement detector that children wear as a wrist watch for 24 hours.

Are there others in your field in NZ or globally conducting similar research?

Sleep medicine is a highly specialised field of paediatric medicine. While there are a small number of centres in the world who have recently begun to study the effect of sleep problems on learning and behaviour in childhood, none have the type of long term data that the Auckland Birthweight Collaborative Study has collected in large group of children up to the age of 7. There has been little research into the sleep problems of New Zealand children to date and our study will provide information allowing researchers to compare the sleep problems seen in Kiwi children to children from other parts of the world. For example, do the high rates of asthma, eczema and hay fever seen in New Zealand children mean that they are at risk of more sleep disturbance than other children or is the amount our children sleep comparable to other countries? These are just some of the questions to be considered as part of the overall study.

What is innovative about the approach you are taking?

Our study is part of a larger study that has collected data on the growth and development of children from birth to 7 years of age. This large, long-term study gives us a unique opportunity to study factors that may contribute to the development of sleep problems by the time children reach school age. Other research groups have simply interviewed children and parents at a given age, without necessarily being aware of factors in the child’s previous health or social situation, that may have contributed to the development of sleep problems later in childhood.

If you achieve your objectives what will that mean to those suffering from the disease or to the knowledge advancement of this disease?

Sleep problems in children have considerable secondary effects on families and the community. These problems are often left undetected and untreated by primary health care practitioners. If significant consequences of sleep problems are demonstrated, then education about their detection and management, should be directed to health professionals and parents. Better knowledge of sleep problems will ensure that parents and health professionals can be given the best advice about the factors that might affect sleep in children, and the impact any problems could have on their child’s learning and development.

Is there national or international collaboration on your research project?

Team member Dr Gillian Nixon will be a key researcher in this study. She is an expert in sleep problems in children, who previously worked at the Department of Paediatrics Auckland University and is now based at the Monash Institute for Medical Research at Monash University in Melbourne. Her expertise will add to the experience of the University of Auckland who have carried out this long term study to date.

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