Sleep problems in children with cerebral palsy and their parents.
Raquel Y Hulst, Jan Willem Gorter, Jeanine M Voorman and 6 others
PMID 33990937WHAT IT FOUND
Parents of children with cerebral palsy reported sleep problems more often than parents of typically developing children.
Daytime tiredness, night waking, and discomfort in bed were reported more often in children with cerebral palsy, especially in children who could not walk.
Key findings
0172.2% of children with cerebral palsy had at least one sleep problem occurring often or always, compared with 46.4% of typically developing children.
02Daytime fatigue, waking during the night, and pain or discomfort in bed were reported more frequently in children with cerebral palsy than in typically developing children.
03Non-ambulatory children with cerebral palsy had a higher total number of sleep problems than ambulatory children, with more night waking, bed discomfort, and daytime fatigue.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
All sleep outcomes came from parent report, so responses may reflect what parents perceived as problematic rather than measured sleep. The checklist was not a validated screening instrument; it was designed to start conversations about sleep in health care. The comparison group was a convenience sample recruited through colleagues and acquaintances and completed the questionnaire online, so it may not match the cerebral palsy group in background factors. No socio-demographic information was collected for the comparison group, and no medical information such as comorbidities was collected for either group. Only 14 children were classified as non-ambulatory, so findings for that subgroup are based on a small number. The study is cross-sectional, so it cannot show that cerebral palsy causes sleep problems or that addressing sleep would improve function. The parental sleep items did not ask why parents felt sleep-deprived, so other causes of poor parental sleep may have contributed.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as proof that cerebral palsy causes sleep problems or that treating sleep will improve mobility or family well-being. The study compared parent-reported checklist responses at one time, and the sleep measure was not a validated diagnostic tool.