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Objectives: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a multisystem autoimmune disease, known for its heterogeneous clinical presentation. Although it is rarer in children, a more severe clinical course can be seen than in adults. It is known that sleep has physiological and developmental importance in children, and there are many studies on sleep quality in adult SLE patients. The aims of this study are to evaluate the sleep habits of children and adolescents with SLE and to compare them with their healthy peers. Methods: The study included 48 children and adolescents with SLE and 64 healthy peers as a control group. The Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire was used to evaluate the sleep characteristics of children. Results: The age and gender of the children were similar across groups. The bedtime resistance and night waking scores of SLE patients were significantly higher than those of the control group. Total sleep score was higher in patients with SLE than in the control group, but there was no significant difference (47.13±7.63 vs 44.61±8.17; p=0.051). Similarly, the rate of sleep disorders in the patient group (75%) was higher than that of the control group (61%), though the differences were not statistically significant (p = 0.156). There was no correlation between disease severity and sleep problems. Conclusion: This research demonstrated that sleep disorders tend to increase in children and adolescents with SLE. Therefore, clinicians should pay attention to sleep disorders during the follow-up sessions of children and adolescents with SLE. Key Points • Sleep disorders tend to increase in children and adolescents with SLE. • Disease severity is not associated with sleep problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is no documentation about the association between peer victimization, psychological status, and quality of life (QOL) in children and adolescents with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between peer victimization, psychological symptoms, and QOL in a cohort of children and adolescents with SLE. Forty-one patients (aged 9-18 years) participated in this study. The control group ( n = 49) was composed of healthy children and adolescents from local community. Questionnaires were used to evaluate the peer victimization, psychological status, and QOL of children and adolescents with and without SLE. No significant difference was found between the study and control groups for peer victimization, depression, state and trait anxiety, and QOL scores. The peer victimization, depression, anxiety, and self-esteem scores were negatively correlated with psychosocial and total subscale scores of QOL in the study group. According to regression analyses, trait anxiety had a negative predictive effect on the physical health domain scores of QOL, whereas trait anxiety and peer victimization had a negative effect on the psychosocial domain and total scores of QOL in the SLE patients. This study suggests that trait anxiety and peer victimization are risk factors for poor QOL in adolescents with SLE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]