Sleep disorders in asthmatic children: an under noticed entity

Objective: To evaluate to pattern and proportion of sleep disorders in asthmatic children aged 6 to 18 years. Material & Method: It was a validated questionnaire based observational study, performed from May 2013 to April 2014 at department of pediatrics, Swai Man Singh (SMS) Medical College, Jaipur, India. We enrolled 63 asthmatic children age between 6 to 18 years. Results: The mean age of study subjects was 10.2±1.5 year. The restlessness during sleep was found in 50.8% asthmatic children. The other sleep disorders among asthmatic children reported in our study was snoring during sleep (30.1%),Growing pains of legs when in bed (33.3%), difficulty falling asleep (30.2%), frequent nocturnal awakening (38%), grinding of teeth during sleep (28.5%), bed wetting during sleep (25.3%), perspiration during sleep(36.5%), sleepiness during day(44.4%) wake up with headache in morning(30.1%), sleep talking (31.7%) and sleep walking(17.4%). Conclusion: The symptoms of sleep disorders in asthmatic children are prevalent. Common disorders are restlessness during sleep, growing pains of leg, difficulty in falling asleep, day time sleepiness, bed wetting during sleep, frequent nocturnal awakening and grinding of teeth.