Insomnia, parasomnia, and predisposing factors in Turkish school children.

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundInsomnia and parasomnia are the most commonly seen sleep disorders in childhood. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of insomnia and parasomnia in school children in a metropolitan area (Trabzon) of Turkey. This is the first study on this issue in Turkey to use a large sample size.MethodsAn 84‐item questionnaire was administered to 5200 school children from different socioeconomic levels in 10 primary and 10 secondary schools. The questionnaire included items on the symptoms of sleep disorders and the predisposing factors according to The International Classification of Sleep Disorders‐2 (ICSD‐2) criteria, sleep habits, as well as demographic, social and economic status. Of the 5200 questionnaires, 4144 were evaluated after elimination of questionnaires with insufficient or incorrect information.ResultsA total of 780 children (18.8%) were diagnosed with insomnia and 1980 (47.8%) were diagnosed with parasomnia. No significant gender difference was observed. Snoring was more common in boys while sleep talking and nightmares were more common in girls (P < 0.05). Sleep talking was the most common type of parasomnia (28.4%), followed by bruxism (14.1%), nightmares (12.9%), primary snoring (7.2%), night terror (5.7%), enuresis (4.7%), and sleepwalking (4.2%). With increasing age, total sleep duration and parasomnia prevalence decreased and prevalence of insomnia increased significantly (P < 0.05).ConclusionPrevalence of sleep disorders and their predisposing factors were similar to that in the literature. This is of great importance for the diagnosis, follow up and treatment of sleep disturbance in outpatient clinics, especially in pediatric neurology departments.