Sleep health in young children living with socioeconomic adversity.
Monica R Ordway, Lois S Sadler, Sangchoon Jeon and 6 others
PMID 32306413WHAT IT FOUND
In 40 low-income families, children aged 6 to 36 months slept about 10.2 to 10.8 hours daily, including 8 to 9 hours at night.
Parents reported earlier bedtimes and less night waking than the sleep device showed. No intervention was tested.
Key findings
01Total sleep was 10.2 hours by actigraphy and 10.8 hours by parent report.
02Parents reported earlier bedtimes and less night waking than the actigraph showed.
03Parents scored 48.9% on the sleep knowledge questionnaire, and sleep knowledge was not associated with child sleep characteristics.
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 40 families and did not use a power analysis, so the correlations were underpowered. It was cross-sectional, so it cannot show that changing a bedtime behavior improves sleep. Actigraphy was usable for 28 children because six children did not wear the device, four devices failed, and two had fewer than three nights. Families came from one low-income urban primary care center, and children with developmental delays or serious medical conditions were excluded. Income was inferred from insurance type, and food insecurity was not measured.
Declared interests
The paper is marked as supported by NIH extramural research. No author conflicts of interest or funder role in design, writing, or analysis are stated.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the associations between bedtime behaviors and sleep problems as proof that changing those behaviors improves sleep. This was a small cross-sectional study with no intervention, and the authors said the correlational analyses were underpowered.