Premium
Nigerian sleep study found that children slept less and had more problems than children in other countries
Author(s) -
Senbanjo Idowu O.,
Salisu Mohammed A.,
Oshikoya Kazeem A.,
Adediji Uchechukwu O.,
Akinola Ayodeji O.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
acta paediatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/apa.14313
Subject(s) - medicine , sleep (system call) , demographics , pediatrics , sleep patterns , prospective cohort study , demography , psychiatry , electroencephalography , sociology , computer science , operating system
Aim We studied sleep patterns, sleep problems and associated socio‐demographic factors among children aged one year to 12 years in Lagos, Nigeria. Methods This prospective hospital‐based study involved 432 children (55% males) who came for routine paediatric care at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital. Information on socio‐demographics, sleeping patterns and specific sleep disorders was obtained. Results The mean age of the subjects was 5.4 ± 3.3 years. Night sleep duration decreased significantly with age from 9.6 ± 1.3 hours at one to four years to 8.7 ± 1.0 hours at nine years to 12 years (p < 0.001). There was no significant gender difference in bedtimes (p = 0.057), rise times (p = 0.095) and night sleep duration (p = 0.191). Most (70%) napped during the day, and 26% of these did so on a regular basis. The most common sleep problems were enuresis (42%), afraid of sleeping alone (38%), snoring (28%) and sleep talking (24%). There was no significant association between sleep duration (p > 0.05), sleep problems (p > 0.05) and socio‐demographic characteristics. Comparisons with other studies showed that the children had shorter sleep duration than peers in other countries and regions and a higher prevalence of sleep disorders. Conclusion Children in Nigeria had shorter sleep duration and more sleep problems than children in other international studies.