Why can't my child sleep and will there be long-term consequences? Lessons from prospective community-based studies

摘要

In this edition of SLEEP, Jihui Zhang and colleagues1 follow the development of over one thousand five hundred Chinese children for five years. The main focus of the study is the predictors and outcome of chronic insomnia—and the mixed pattern of results reported adds nicely to the growing body of data showing complex and likely bidirectional associations between sleep disturbances experienced in youth and many other difficulties. Amongst associations reported, the authors' note that chronic medical disorders at baseline were associated with the persistence of insomnia over time; conversely insomnia at baseline was associated with a health difficulty (specifically frequent laryngopharyngitis) assessed at follow-up.