Abstract
Background:Sleep problems, especially in the adolescent stage of development, may be associated with excessive daytime sleepiness, impaired neurocognitive function, and a host of others leading to suboptimal performance.Objectives:To determine the pattern of sleep problems in school-going adolescents based on the bedtime problems; excessive daytime sleepiness; awakenings during the night and problems falling back asleep; regularity and duration of sleep; sleep-disordered breathing (BEARS) sleep screening algorithm.Materials and Methods:This is a cross-sectional descriptive study involving 353 secondary school-going adolescents in Kano metropolis. Subjects were selected for the study using multistage sampling technique. The study lasted from March 2015 to July 2015. Sleep problems were screened for using the BEARS sleep screening algorithm. Tables were used to present the qualitative data. The various BEARS sleep patterns were assessed, and comparison between stages of adolescence was done using Chi-square test (and Fisher's exact test where necessary). A significant association was considered at P < 0.05.Results:Of the 353 adolescents studied, 61.8% were males while 38.2% were females with male, female ratio of 1.6:1. Early, middle, and late adolescents constituted 13.9%, 39.9%, 46.2% respectively. BEARS sleep screening revealed awakenings during the night (34.6%) as the most common sleep-related problem reported, and this was followed by excessive daytime sleepiness (21.0%). Age-group dependent sleep duration was 7.19 ± 1.26, 7.13 ± 1.13, 7.16 ± 1.28, with P > 0.05. Although 62.9% of all the adolescents watched TV/play video games until 1 h before going to bed and this was highest in late adolescence, it was not statistically significantly associated with any of the sleep problems.Conclusion:Both the quality and quantity of sleep in Nigerian adolescents in Kano is suboptimal. Adolescent and sleep medicine should receive more attention in our environment.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
