TY - JOUR
T1 - Subjective and objective sleep and self-harm behaviors in young children
T2 - A general population study
AU - Singareddy, Ravi
AU - Basappa Krishnamurthy, Venkatesh
AU - Vgontzas, Alexandros
AU - Fernandez-Mendoza, Julio
AU - Calhoun, Susan
AU - Shaffer, Michele L.
AU - Bixler, Edward
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was funded in part by the National Institutes of Health Grants R01 HL063772 , M01RR010732 and C06 RR016499 (E.O.B.). The work was performed at the Sleep Research and Treatment Center at the Penn State University College of Medicine, and the staff is especially commended for their efforts.
PY - 2013/10/30
Y1 - 2013/10/30
N2 - Significant association between sleep disturbances and suicidal ideation and/or attempts is reported in adults and adolescents. However, there is paucity of studies exploring the association between sleep and self-harm behaviors (SHB) in young children and are limited to only subjective sleep measures. We examined the association between SHB and both subjective and objective sleep in a population-based sample of 5-12. yr old. Parents of every student in 3 local school (K-5) districts (n=7312) was sent a screening questionnaire. Randomly selected children from this sample underwent a comprehensive history, physical examination, a 9-h overnight polysomnogram and completed several questionnaires. Among the final sample (n=693), 27 children had SHB with adjusted prevalence of 3%. There was no difference in age, gender, obesity, or socioeconomic status in subjects with or without SHB. Significantly more children with SHB had subjective sleep difficulty and depression. Difficulty maintaining sleep and frequent nightmares were associated with SHB independent of depression or demographics. Polysomnographic %REM-sleep was significantly higher in the SHB group after adjusting for demographics and depression. These data indicate that parent reported sleep disturbances are independently associated with SHB. It is possible that higher REM-sleep is a non-invasive biomarker for risk of self-harm behaviors in young children.
AB - Significant association between sleep disturbances and suicidal ideation and/or attempts is reported in adults and adolescents. However, there is paucity of studies exploring the association between sleep and self-harm behaviors (SHB) in young children and are limited to only subjective sleep measures. We examined the association between SHB and both subjective and objective sleep in a population-based sample of 5-12. yr old. Parents of every student in 3 local school (K-5) districts (n=7312) was sent a screening questionnaire. Randomly selected children from this sample underwent a comprehensive history, physical examination, a 9-h overnight polysomnogram and completed several questionnaires. Among the final sample (n=693), 27 children had SHB with adjusted prevalence of 3%. There was no difference in age, gender, obesity, or socioeconomic status in subjects with or without SHB. Significantly more children with SHB had subjective sleep difficulty and depression. Difficulty maintaining sleep and frequent nightmares were associated with SHB independent of depression or demographics. Polysomnographic %REM-sleep was significantly higher in the SHB group after adjusting for demographics and depression. These data indicate that parent reported sleep disturbances are independently associated with SHB. It is possible that higher REM-sleep is a non-invasive biomarker for risk of self-harm behaviors in young children.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.psychres.2013.03.036
DO - 10.1016/j.psychres.2013.03.036
M3 - Article
C2 - 23623452
AN - SCOPUS:84885468191
SN - 0165-1781
VL - 209
SP - 549
EP - 553
JO - Psychiatry Research
JF - Psychiatry Research
IS - 3
ER -
