Li, Y., Jin, H., Owens, J. A., & Hu, C. (2008). The association between sleep and injury among school-aged children in rural China: A case-control study. Sleep Medicine, 9(2), 142-8.

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Abstract

Objective

To explore the association between sleep and accidental injury among school-aged children in a rural area of China.

Methods

Information was collected regarding parent-reported sleep patterns and problems of 182 children with a history of a medically attended injury in the previous 12 months and of 207 non-injured control children, and data were analyzed to compare differences between the two groups of children.

Results

Global sleep disturbance (Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire [CSHQ] total score) was significantly higher in the injured group (IG) than in the non-injured group (NIG), and a greater percentage of the IG scored above the clinical cut-off score on the CSHQ. Stepwise multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the CSHQ parasomnias and daytime sleepiness subscale scores were significantly and positively related to injury. Sleep duration was also shorter in the IG, and this group had a greater percentage (23% vs 12%) of "short sleepers" (<9h). In addition, a greater percentage of "short sleepers" (91% vs 27%) had more than two injuries.

Conclusion

This study supports an association between injuries and sleep disturbances, including shorter sleep duration and daytime sleepiness, in Chinese children.

MeSH Terms
    Child
    China/epidemiology
    Disorders of Excessive Somnolence/diagnosis
    Disorders of Excessive Somnolence/epidemiology*
    Female
    Habits
    Humans
    Male
    Mass Screening/methods
    Prevalence
    Rural Population/statistics & numerical data*
    Sleep Deprivation/epidemiology
    Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders/diagnosis
    Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders/epidemiology*
    Surveys and Questionnaires
    Time Factors
    Wounds and Injuries/epidemiology*