Quality of sleep in children with chronic illnesses attending the outpatient clinics in Sagamu, Ogun State: A preliminary report

Abstract

Background: Children with chronic diseases are reported to have poor sleep. Factors inherent in chronic disorders and the pathology of the  diseases are some factors known to cause sleep disorders. There is a paucity of data in Nigeria on this abnormality among chronically ill children.
Objective: To assess the quality of sleep in children with chronic diseases attending the Children Out-patient Clinics of Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Sagamu.
Materials and Methods: A crosssectional survey of children presenting with various chronic disorders at the Paediatric Speciality Clinics of the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Sagamu was done. The caregivers and mothers were interviewed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality
Index (PSQI) and socio-clinical questionnaires.
Results: One hundred and fifteen children were studied. Sleep initiation was less than 30 minutes in 86% of the sampled population. Males had a lesser duration of sleep initiation than females. The mean duration of sleep was 9.6(± 1.93) hours. Sleep quality was poor in 15.7% of the study population. Children with renal diseases formed the bulk of those with poor sleep. The sleep disorders reported included frequent night waking (59.1%), snoring (15.6%) and day time sleepiness (10.4%). The extent of the effect of poor quality of sleep on daytime activities was not studied.
Conclusion: Sleep quality is poor among children with chronic diseases. Further large scale, multicenter study is desired to be able to generalize the findings and to determine possible effects of poor sleep quality on academic performance and quality of life.

Keywords: Children, Chronic diseases, Quality of Sleep, Snoring.