Sleep difficulties in infancy are associated with symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity at the age of 5 years: A longitudinal study

Abstract

Objective: Sleep difficulties are associated with cognitive and behavioral problems in childhood. However, it is still unclear whether early sleep difficulties are related to later development. We studied whether parentreported sleep duration, night awakenings, and parent-reported sleep problems in early childhood are associated withsymptoms of inattention and hyperactivity at the age of 5 years. Method: Our study is based on the Child-Sleep birthcohort initially comprising 1673 families, of which 713 were retained at the age of 5 years. We used the Brief InfantSleep Questionnaire and the Infant Sleep Questionnaire, which were filled out by the parents when their child was 3, 8,and 24 months and 5 years old. Symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity at the age of 5 years were assessed usingthe Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and the Five-to-Fifteen questionnaire. Results: Sleep duration at the ageof 3, 8, and 24 months was associated with inattentiveness at 5 years of age. Moreover, parent-reported sleep problems at the age of 24 months were related to both inattentive and hyperactive symptoms at the age of 5 years. Finally,at the age of 5 years, parent-reported sleep problems and night awakenings were associated with concurrent symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that certain sleep characteristics related tosleep quality and quantity in early childhood are associated with inattentiveness and hyperactivity at the age of 5 years.Interestingly, sleep duration in early childhood is consistently related to inattention at the age of 5 years.