Sleep Difficulties in Infancy Are Associated with Symptoms of Inattention and Hyperactivity at the Age of 5 Years: A Longitudinal Study

Abstract

:Objective:Sleep difficulties are associated with cognitive and behavioral problems in childhood. However, it is still unclear whether early sleep difficulties are related to later development. We studied whether parent-reported sleep duration, night awakenings, and parent-reported sleep problems in early childhood are associated with symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity at the age of 5 years.Method:Our study is based on the Child-Sleep birth cohort initially comprising 1673 families, of which 713 were retained at the age of 5 years. We used the Brief Infant Sleep Questionnaire and the Infant Sleep Questionnaire, which were filled out by the parents when their child was 3, 8, and 24 months and 5 years old. Symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity at the age of 5 years were assessed using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and the Five-to-Fifteen questionnaire.Results:Sleep duration at the age of 3, 8, and 24 months was associated with inattentiveness at 5 years of age. Moreover, parent-reported sleep problems at the age of 24 months were related to both inattentive and hyperactive symptoms at the age of 5 years. Finally, at the age of 5 years, parent-reported sleep problems and night awakenings were associated with concurrent symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity.Conclusion:Our findings suggest that certain sleep characteristics related to sleep quality and quantity in early childhood are associated with inattentiveness and hyperactivity at the age of 5 years. Interestingly, sleep duration in early childhood is consistently related to inattention at the age of 5 years.

Factors contributing to continuity and discontinuity in child psychopathology from infancy to childhood: An explorative study

“…Keeping in mind the small sample size, this finding tentatively suggests that these diagnoses are often transient and may require relatively short-term interventions. This conclusion is consistent with studies reporting that infant crying ( Hjern et al, 2020 ) and sleeping difficulties ( Paavonen et al, 2020 ) resolved over time but are different from others arguing that early sleep difficulties are linked with later child psychopathology ( Cook et al, 2020 ; Huhdanpää et al, 2019 ). Furthermore, our findings indicate that early ODD and regulatory disorders appear to persist.…”

Sleep and the General Behavior of Infants and Parents during the Closure of Schools as a Result of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Comparison with 2019 Data

“…Sleep is extremely important for the physical and mental development of children. Less nighttime sleeping hours for children are related to hyperactivity, lower level of cognitive function [ 12 , 13 ], and mental disorders [ 14 , 15 ]. It is also supposed that disrupted biological rhythms due to staying up late or lack of sleep can trigger autonomic dystonia and poor morning physical conditions due to hypothermia and further delay emotional development [ 16 ].…”

Prenatal and Postnatal Predictive Factors for Children’s Inattentive and Hyperactive Symptoms at 5 Years of Age: The Role of Early Family-related Factors

“…Although it is well documented that ADHD is a highly heritable disorder [3,4], it has been estimated that 10-40% of the variance associated with ADHD is accounted for by other than genetic factors [5]. More specifically, the development of ADHD is multifactorial, including a contribution of both genetic [3] and several prenatal, perinatal, and postnatal risk factors [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. Taking into account that ADHD emerges early in life and is related to a wide variety of negative physical, psychosocial, and academic outcomes [13], identifying early causal risk factors for ADHD is of crucial relevance, as this would enable early intervention in children at risk of developing ADHD [14].…”