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Comparison between reported and recorded total sleep time and sleep latency in 6- to 11-year-old children: the Tucson Children’s Assessment of Sleep Apnea Study (TuCASA)

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Abstract

Research comparing parental report of sleep times to objectively obtained polysomnographic evidence of sleep times in schoolchildren is lacking. This report compares habitual sleep time and objectively recorded sleep time and sleep latency with parental reports of sleep time immediately after a night of polysomnography in elementary schoolchildren. Unattended home polysomnograms (PSG) were obtained from 480 children. On the night of the PSG, a parent was asked to complete a Sleep Habits Questionnaire, which inquired about the habitual total sleep time (HABTST) and habitual sleep onset latency (HABSOL) of his/her child on both school days and nonschool days. On the morning after the PSG, the parent was asked to estimate the total sleep time (ESTTST) and sleep onset latency (ESTSOL) of his/her child on the night of the recording. Comparisons were made to actual total sleep time (PSGTST) and sleep latency (PSGSOL) on the PSG. The sample was comprised of 50% girls, 42.3% Hispanic, and 53% aged 6–8 years. The mean HABTST, ESTTST, and PSGTST were 578, 547, and 480 min, respectively. HABTST was greater than both ESTST and PSGTST (p < 0.001). Moreover, ESTTST was greater than PSGTST (p < 0.001). The mean HABSOL, ESTSOL, and PSGSOL were 15, 17, and 11 min. ESTSOL was longer than PSGSOL (p < 0.001). There were no gender differences. However, Hispanic parents reported significantly less HABTST in their children than Caucasian parents (566 vs 587 min, p < 0.001). Parents of schoolchildren in this population-based sample substantially overestimated their children’s actual total sleep time and sleep onset latency.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grant HL 62373 from the US National Heart Lung and Blood Institute in addition to a grant from the Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation. Graciela E. Silva, Ph.D. was supported by NHLBI grant HL 062373-05A2. The authors wish to thank the principals, teachers, parents, and students from the TUSD for their ongoing support of this research.

The authors have no significant financial involvement in any organization with a direct commercial interest in the subject matter discussed in this manuscript. There was no off-label or investigational drug use.

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Correspondence to James L. Goodwin.

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Goodwin, J.L., Silva, G.E., Kaemingk, K.L. et al. Comparison between reported and recorded total sleep time and sleep latency in 6- to 11-year-old children: the Tucson Children’s Assessment of Sleep Apnea Study (TuCASA). Sleep Breath 11, 85–92 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-006-0086-6

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