Biomedical subjects

E Juulia Paavonen

Publications and source records attributed to E Juulia Paavonen.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

TV exposure associated with sleep disturbances in 5- to 6-year-old children.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of various forms of TV exposure on the quality of children's sleep. In this randomized population-based survey questionnaires concerning TV viewing, sleep disturbances, and psychiatric symptoms were administered to 321 parents of children aged 5-6 years. Sleep disturbance scores were the main outcome measures. Active TV viewing and passive TV exposure were related to sleeping difficulties, especially sleep-wake transition disorders and overall sleep disturbances. Particularly, passive TV exposure and viewing adult-targeted TV programs were strongly related to sleep disturbances. The association remained significant when socioeconomic status, family income, family conflicts, the father's work schedule, and the child's psychiatric symptoms were controlled statistically. The adjusted odds ratios were 2.91 (95% CI 1.03-8.17) and 3.01 (95% CI 1.13-8.05), respectively. TV viewing and particularly passive TV exposure and viewing adult-targeted programs significantly increase the risk of sleeping difficulties. The results suggest that health-care professionals should be aware of the association between TV exposure and sleep disturbances.

Child↗

PubMed2005

Factor structure of the Eating Disorder Inventory-C.

OBJECTIVE: The Eating Disorder Inventory-C (EDI-C) is a multidimensional self-report questionnaire for children and adolescents used to characterize differences in the symptoms of eating disorders. It is based on the EDI-2 questionnaire, which is designed for adults. Although the psychometric properties of the EDI and EDI-2 have been well characterized, no studies exist on the EDI-C. Thus, we aimed to establish the factor structure of the EDI-C questionnaire among children. METHOD: A nonclinical sample of 898 children aged 9-16 years completed the EDI-C questionnaire at school. RESULTS: Instead of the original 11-factor structure of the EDI-2, 5 factors with high reliability were extracted when 27 items with low communality were removed from analysis. DISCUSSION: When the EDI-C is used, the reliability of the original 11 factors may be low. A modified subscale structure with five factors is proposed.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2003

Effectiveness of melatonin in the treatment of sleep disturbances in children with Asperger disorder.

Sleep disturbances are common in patients with Asperger disorder. Although these sleep problems are often persistent and may significantly impair the child's daytime well-being, no treatment studies have been reported. In this open clinical trial, the effectiveness of melatonin was studied in a sample of 15 children with Asperger disorder (13 boys, 2 girls) aged 6-17 years using several questionnaires and actigraph measurements. They included assessments of sleep quality, tiredness, and behavior. Melatonin (3 mg/day) was used for 14 days. All the measurements were made three times: before the treatment period, during the treatment (days 12-14), and 3 weeks after the discontinuation of the treatment. The sleep patterns of all the children improved, and half of them displayed excellent responses to melatonin. In particular, actigraphically measured sleep latency decreased from 40.02 +/- 24.09 minutes to 21.82 +/- 9.64 minutes (p = 0.002), whereas sleep duration remained steady at 477.40 +/- 55.56 minutes and 480.48 +/- 50.71 minutes. Despite the short duration of the treatment, behavioral measures also displayed a significant improvement, and most of the effect disappeared after the discontinuation of the melatonin (p = 0.001). In conclusion, melatonin may provide an interesting new and well-tolerated treatment option for children with Asperger disorder suffering from chronic insomnia. However, these results must be confirmed in a controlled study.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2003

Working memory and sleep in 6- to 13-year-old schoolchildren.

OBJECTIVE: To study the associations between sleep quality/quantity and performance in auditory/visual working memory tasks of different load levels. METHOD: Sixty schoolchildren aged 6 to 13 years from normal school classes voluntarily participated. Actigraphy measurement was done during a typical school week for 72 consecutive hours. It was timed together with the working memory experiments to obtain information on children's sleep during that period. The n-back task paradigm was used to examine auditory and visual working memory functions. RESULTS: Lower sleep efficiency and longer sleep latency were associated with a higher percentage of incorrect responses in working memory tasks at all memory load levels (partial correlations, controlling for age, all p values < .05, except in visual 0-back and auditive 2-back tasks); shorter sleep duration was associated with performing tasks at the highest load level only (partial correlations, controlling for age,p < .05). Also in general linear models (controlling for age, gender, and socioeconomic status), sleep efficiency (F = 11.706, p = .050) and latency (F = 3.588, p = .034) were significantly associated with the mean incorrect response rate in auditory working memory tasks. CONCLUSIONS: Sleep quality and quantity affect performance of working memory tasks in school-age children. In children with learning difficulties the possibility of underlying sleep problems should be excluded.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2003

Four-year follow-up study of sleep and psychiatric symptoms in preadolescents: relationship of persistent and temporary sleep problems to psychiatric symptoms.

The course of sleep disturbances in preadolescents was assessed during a 4-year follow-up, and psychiatric problems associated with persistent and temporary sleep problems were investigated in an epidemiological setting. A representative random sample of 1,290 children, their parents, and school teachers filled out various questionnaires when the children were aged 8 and 12 years. Response rates to the relevant items varied between 66.8% and 81.2%. Parental reports of sleep problems decreased from 23.4% to 9.1% during the 4-year period, whereas children's reports remained steady at 18%. Persistent sleep disturbances were found in 12% of children, and 33.3% of sleep problems reported at age 8 were continued. Both current and persistent sleep disturbances were associated with the broad range of mental health problems reported by teachers. However, multivariate modeling suggested that especially current sleep problems were associated with an increased risk for psychiatric problems (odds ratio [OR] 2.45; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.20-4.99), particularly emotional problems (OR 2.92; 95% CI 1.58-5.38).

Child↗

PubMed2002

Actigraph placement and sleep estimation in children.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: To determine whether actigraph placement affects sleep estimation in children. DESIGN: Descriptive study. SETTING: Naturalistic setting. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty children aged 7-12 years from primary schools. INTERVENTIONS: N/A. MEASUREMENTS: Motor activity was measured from the waist and non-dominant wrist with actigraphs for three consecutive days during a school week. RESULTS: The minute-by-minute agreement of sleep-wake states between the two measurement sites was 92.5%. Wrist- and waist-recorded sleep parameters correlated well and the mean values did not differ. CONCLUSIONS: Although the placement of the actigraph slightly affected the measured activity parameters, its influence on 3-night mean sleep estimates in children was not statistically significant.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2002

Day length associates with activity level in children living at 60 degrees north.

The associations between day length and activity, rest-activity rhythm, and psychiatric symptoms were studied. Sixty-six healthy children participated in the study during one year. They were monitored for 72 consecutive hours with belt-worn activity monitors (actigraphs) to obtain objective data on their activity levels during the day and night. In addition, the parents filled out the Child Behavior Checklists. It was found, that the mean total and day and night time activity levels were increased and the relative circadian amplitude blunted with the longer day length. It was concluded that day length was associated with activity level and rest-activity rhythm and this association may reflect the seasonal changes in these parameters.

Child↗