Children with insomnia likely to suffer as adults, finds long-term study

 According to a new research, children with insomnia symptoms are more likely to develop an insomnia disorder in early adulthood compared to others.

According to new research led by scientists at Penn State College of Medicine, children with insomnia symptoms are likely to persist with them as young adults and are significantly more likely to develop an insomnia disorder in early adulthood compared to children who do not have difficulty sleeping.

The study, published today in the journal Pediatrics, is the first long-term cohort study to describe the developmental trajectories of childhood insomnia symptoms through adolescence and into young adulthood.

"Young adulthood is a stage in life where there is a documented increase in the severity and prevalence of physical and mental health problems, such as cardiovascular disease and suicide rates," said Julio Fernandez-Mendoza, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral health.

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"Sleep disorders, especially sleep apnea and insomnia, are linked with poorer cardiovascular and mental health. Given that up to 25 per cent of children, 35 per cent of adolescents and 45 per cent of young adults suffer from insomnia symptoms, we were interested in learning how these symptoms evolve over time as the child grows into adulthood."

The team's longitudinal study, which began in the year 2000, was designed as a random, population-based study of children, ages 5-12 years. Children and their parents provided reports of the children's insomnia symptoms, defined as moderate-to-severe difficulties initiating and/or maintaining sleep.

The children also participated in an objective in-laboratory sleep study using polysomnography, which can identify sleep apnea and other indicators such as the amount and quality of sleep. The team studied 502 children 7.4 years later as adolescents (median 16 years old) and 15 years later as young adults (median 24 years old).

The team found that 43 per cent of children with insomnia symptoms continued to suffer through adolescence into adulthood. Although about 27 per cent of children with insomnia symptoms experienced remission of symptoms by adolescence, close to 19 per cent experienced a waxing and waning pattern into adulthood.

Among children without insomnia symptoms, about 15 per cent of them developed insomnia symptoms in the transition to adolescence and persisted with them into adulthood, and another 21 per cent newly developed them in young adulthood. In addition, about 16 per cent of these children without insomnia symptoms experienced a waxing-and-waning pattern.

"We know that not everyone who complains of insomnia symptoms has the same degree of sleep disturbance when sleep is measured objectively in the laboratory, so it was important that our study included these objective in-lab measurements in addition to the self-reports," said Fernandez-Mendoza.

Indeed, the study found that insomnia symptoms in adolescents who slept short in the lab were 5.5 times more likely to worsen into adult insomnia, while those who reported the same insomnia symptoms and slept normally in the lab were not at increased risk of worsening into adult insomnia.