Expert opinion
Brandon M. Seay MD, FAAP, pediatric pulmonologist and sleep specialist at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, said in an interview that the study is one of the first to offer longitudinal data for impairment in children with sleep problems. He said the paper emphasizes the need for recognizing when children are demonstrating sleep problems. “It just shows that problems that aren’t dealt with earlier on definitely have bigger impacts on sleep as you go through life,” he said.
Dr. Brandon M. Seay
Although primary care physicians and pediatricians should be already asking questions about sleep through anticipatory guidance, he said, intervening earlier for sleep problems is important. He noted children who exhibit sleep problems over time are more likely to have issues in handling their emotions and eventually may develop cognitive issues. “[W]e know that if these problems continue to go through, this paper’s showing us that they have worse effects down the road,” he said.
Impact of the COVID-19 crisis
These problems may also be worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Seay noted that with many parents working from home, sleep schedules can be affected and parents may also be co-sleeping with their children, which can cause chronic insomnia and early waking. To help address sleep issues, especially ones that may have arisen during COVID-19, parents should make sure their children show up for primary care visits to report problems, and clinicians should make a sleep routine a focus of conversations around sleep problems.
Prior to the pandemic, “we already were hitting upon that in sleep clinic, making sure [they] get the same schedule every day,” said Dr. Seay. For parents with children who have “issues with insomnia or waking up during the night, having that routine in place does help to mitigate that a little bit, so if that routine is not there, it can actually exacerbate the issues.”
This study was funded by the Australian federal government. The authors report no relevant conflicts of interest. Dr. Seay reports no relevant conflicts of interest.
SOURCE: Williamson AA et al. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2020 Jul 26. doi:10.1111/jcpp.13303.