[Undiagnosed sleep disorders in children from a hospital in Puebla, Mexico].

BACKGROUND

Sleep-related problems are rarely discussed during the healthy children consultation. Up to 50% of children experience a sleep problem and 4% have an adequate diagnosis. The American Academy of Pediatrics considers the prevalence of sleep disorders to be 20-30%. These disorders can be triggered by multiple etiologies: from organic to behavioral and environmental disorders.

OBJECTIVE

To identify the frequency and clinical characteristics of sleep disorders in children in a second-level hospital in Mexico.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Observational, and prospective study. The extended Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire (PSQ) was administered to ambulatory pediatric patients aged 2 to 17 years. Those with a psychiatric diagnosis or known sleep disorder were excluded. Those who did not complete 33% of affirmative answers of the PSQ were eliminated. They were interviewed to corroborate sleep disorders. Descriptive statistics were used in tables and graphs for frequencies.

RESULTS

334 patients were included, and 82 corroborated the diagnosis. The most frequent disorders were periodic leg movements (36 patients, 44%), somniloquy (24, 29%), nocturnal awakenings (20, 24%), bruxism (18, 22%), nightmares (16, 19%), sleepwalking (15, 18%) and enuresis (14, 17%).

CONCLUSIONS

In this study we found a high presence of unidentified sleep disorders in the pediatric outpatient clinic, even higher than the one reported in similar studies.