Four-year follow-up study of sleep and psychiatric symptoms in preadolescents: relationship of persistent and temporary sleep problems to psychiatric symptoms

The course of sleep disturbances in preadolescents was assessed during a 4-year follow-up, and psychiatric problems associated with persistent and temporary sleep problems were investigated in an epidemiological setting. A representative random sample of 1,290 children, their parents, and school teachers filled out various questionnaires when the children were aged 8 and 12 years. Response rates to the relevant items varied between 66.8% and 81.2%. Parental reports of sleep problems decreased from 23.4% to 9.1% during the 4-year period, whereas children's reports remained steady at 18%. Persistent sleep disturbances were found in 12% of children, and 33.3% of sleep problems reported at age 8 were continued. Both current and persistent sleep disturbances were associated with the broad range of mental health problems reported by teachers. However, multivariate modeling suggested that especially current sleep problems were associated with an increased risk for psychiatric problems (odds ratio [OR] 2.45; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.20-4.99), particularly emotional problems (OR 2.92; 95% CI 1.58-5.38).