Kids' Sleep Problems Linked to Educational Issues

Guess who has sleep problems. Fat kids!

Pediatric sleep disorders have long been associated with cognitive, behavioral, and linguistic problems in the children who have them. Now a new study suggests that sleep disordered breathing (SDB) and other sleep problems in the first 5 years of life are associated with an increased chance that a child will have special educational needs (SENs) at age 8 years... The 18-, 30-, 42-, and 57-month questionnaires also contained 7 questions about behavioral sleep problems (BSPs), such as the child's refusal to go to bed, early awakening, and regular nightmares or inability to sleep through the night. Affirmative answers on at least 5 questions were considered indicative of a BSP. Children of multiple births, those who survived less than 1 year, and those who had conditions related to sleep disorders or SENs were excluded. The analysis was adjusted for many confounders, such as maternal cigarette smoking, child's ethnicity, adequacy of housing, presence of family stressors such as crime or financial adversity, birth weight, and gestational age. Children with a BSP had a cumulative mean IQ of 101.80 (standard deviation [SD], 15.61) across all time points compared with a mean of 105.76 (SD, 16.28) for children without BSPs (P < .001). The mean IQ for children with the "worst" SDB symptom cluster (elevated symptom levels that begin at 18 months of age, remain high, and peak at 30 months) was 102.4 (SD, 16.25) compared with a mean of 106.41 (SD, 16.07) for children deemed "normal" (asymptomatic at all time points; P < .001).

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