Children and adolescents hospitalized with chronic conditions: sleep patterns, resilience and quality of life.
Welker da Silva Xavier, Michelle Darezzo Rodrigues Nunes, Madalena Paulos Abreu and 2 others
PMID 38738684WHAT IT FOUND
Hospitalized children and adolescents with chronic conditions slept about 3.7 hours on average.
Sleep was less efficient with genetic conditions and medication-only treatment. No link was found between sleep and quality of life.
Key findings
01Actigraphy recorded a mean sleep duration of 221.27 minutes, approximately 3.7 hours, and a median of 39.62 minutes awake after sleep onset.
02Participants with genetic conditions had lower sleep efficiency than participants with autoimmune conditions, and participants treated with medication only had lower sleep efficiency than participants receiving multiple treatment modalities.
03Quality-of-life scores were not linked to sleep variables, but emotional reactivity was linked to more time awake after sleep onset and lower sleep efficiency.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study included only 40 participants, and sleep data came from 26, so the results are unstable. The design was cross-sectional, so it cannot show that genetic conditions, medication-only treatment, or resilience caused poorer sleep. Sleep measurement required at least three full days of hospitalization, so children and adolescents with shorter stays or more acute illness were not represented. The genetic and autoimmune groups had 7 and 8 participants, and the medication-only and multiple-treatment groups had 15 and 11 participants, so subgroup findings may be unstable. The sample was non-probabilistic and convenience based at two referral hospitals, so the findings may not apply to other settings.
Declared interests
The article lists financial support from an ARC-funded project from the Rio de Janeiro State Research Foundation (Faperj).
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the lower sleep efficiency in genetic or medication-only groups as proof that these factors cause poor sleep. This was a small cross-sectional study, and sleep data came from only 26 of the 40 participants.