PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

Objective To examine the long-term stability of sleep duration, sleep continuity, and sleep architecture assessed via unattended home sleep electroencephalography (EEG) during middle childhood. Methods A total of 69 healthy children (18 girls and 51 boys) aged 8.2 years (standard deviation = 1.3 years) at T1 underwent unattended home sleep EEG on two nights separated by 18.5 months (standard deviation = 3.9 months). Of the children, 34 (49.3%) children were born prematurely (<32 gestational weeks; mean birth weight = 1367 g) and 35 (50.7%) children were born at term (mean birth weight = 3275 g). Results We found moderate to substantial stability (all p <0.001) for total sleep time (TST; intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC] = 0.65), slow wave sleep (SWS; min, %: ICC = 0.49), and stage 2 sleep (min; ICC = 0.47), and found fair stability (all p <0.013) for sleep efficiency (ICC = 0.28), nocturnal awakenings (ICC = 0.33), stage 2 sleep (%; ICC = 0.32), and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep (min: ICC = 0.33; %: ICC = 0.27). Prematurity status was not associated with stability of sleep EEG indices over time. Conclusions Long-term follow-up of one night of unattended home sleep EEG during middle childhood reveals that TST, stage 2 sleep, and SWS are relatively stable, trait-like characteristics. This applies less strongly for sleep efficiency, nocturnal awakenings, and REM sleep. Stage 1 sleep and REM latency showed no stability.