Open AccessEvaluation of the effect of the COVID‐19 pandemic on sleep disorders and nutrition in children
Author(s) -
Fidancı İzzet,
Aksoy Hilal,
Yengil Taci Duygu,
Fidancı İlknur,
Ayhan Başer Duygu,
Cankurtaran Mustafa
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
international journal of clinical practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.756
H-Index - 98
eISSN - 1742-1241
pISSN - 1368-5031
DOI - 10.1111/ijcp.14170
Subject(s) - medicine , pandemic , anxiety , affect (linguistics) , covid-19 , sleep (system call) , quality of life (healthcare) , demography , pediatrics , gerontology , psychiatry , disease , psychology , nursing , communication , sociology , computer science , infectious disease (medical specialty) , operating system , pathology
Aims The aim of the study was to evaluate the possible changes in sleep behavior and nutrition in children during the pandemic period. Methods One hundred fourteen parents who accepted to participate in the study aged 18 and over and who had children between the ages of 6 and 16 were included in the study. A questionnaire was carried out after written consents were obtained. In the first part of the questionnaire, there were a total of 9 questions including socio‐demographic information and nutritional characteristics, and the second part included the “Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children” (SDSC). The data were analyzed with the SPSS 20 statistical program. Results The total number of participants was 114 parents; 64 (56%) of the children were girls and 50 (43.9%) were boys. Among the participants, the number of children who had COVID‐19 was 38 (33.3%). There was no statistically significant relationship between going through COVID‐19 status and the variables examined in general. The proportion of participants who stated that if the pandemic period was prolonged, COVID‐19 would not change their diet was found to be statistically significant ( P = .038). The SDSC score was found to be significantly high in girls ( P < .05). Conclusion Sleep and nutritional disorders affect the quality of life for all ages for both genders, and their importance increases even more in extraordinary periods such as pandemic. Sleep problems increasing especially with an accompanying anxiety state may lead to developmental problems as well as deepening psychological disorders.