1. Cross-sectional sleep thresholds for optimal health and well-being in Australian 4-9-year-olds.
- Author
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Price, Anna M.H., Quach, Jon, Wake, Melissa, Bittman, Michael, and Hiscock, Harriet
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HEALTH , *SLEEP , *PSYCHOLOGICAL well-being , *AGE factors in sleep , *AUSTRALIANS , *CHILDREN & sleep , *QUALITY of life , *CHILD psychology , *MENTAL health , *CHILD welfare , *LONGITUDINAL method , *PSYCHOLOGY of parents , *CROSS-sectional method , *PSYCHOLOGY - Abstract
Aim: Using national Australian time-diary data, we aimed to empirically determine sleep duration thresholds beyond which children have poorer health, learning, quality of life, and weight status and parents have poorer mental health.Methods: Design/setting: Cross-sectional data from the first three waves of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children.Participants: A nationally representative sample of 4983 4-5-year-olds, recruited in 2004 from the Australian Medicare database and followed biennially; 3631 had analyzable sleep information and a concurrent measure of health and well-being for at least one wave.Main Measures: Exposure: At each wave, a parent completed 24-h time-use diaries for one randomly selected weekday and one weekend day, including a "sleeping/napping" category.Outcomes: Parent-reported child mental health, health-related quality of life, and maternal/paternal mental health; teacher-reported child language, literacy, mathematical thinking, and approach to learning; and assessed child body mass index and girth.Results: Linear regression analyses revealed weak, inconsistent relationships between sleep duration and outcomes at every wave. For example, children with versus without psychosocial health-related quality of life problems slept slightly less at 6-7 years (adjusted mean difference 0.12 h; 95% confidence interval 0.01-0.22, p = 0.03), but not at 4-5 (0.00; -0.10 to 0.11, p = 1.0) or 8-9 years (0.09; -0.02 to 0.22, p = 0.1). Empirical exploration using fractional polynomials demonstrated no clear thresholds for sleep duration and any adverse outcome at any wave.Conclusions: Present guidelines in terms of children's short sleep duration appear misguided. Other parameters such as sleep timing may be more meaningful for understanding optimal child sleep. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]- Published
- 2016
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