THURSDAY, June 12 (HealthDay News) -- Adolescent children of
parents who suffer from chronic insomnia have a higher risk not
only for insomnia themselves, but also for suicidal behavior and
for using drugs that induce sleep.
If parents have insomnia, health-care workers or teachers may
need to focus on the children, because they are at risk for
suicidal behavior and other problems, added study author Dr.
Xianchen Liu, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the
University of Pittsburgh Medical School. Liu was expected to
present his findings Thursday at the annual meeting of the
Associated Professional Sleep Societies, in Baltimore.
"It means we can do interventions or prevention for these
children at risk," he added.
"If there is a family history of insomnia, we probably need to
be looking at treating the whole family entity, parents as well, to
make an impact on the children," said Donna Arand, spokeswoman for
the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and clinical director of
Kettering Sleep Disorders Center in Dayton, Ohio.
"We take a [family] history, but when we're treating, our focus
is usually on the patient we have in front of us and work at that
level," Arand said, adding that only a few research studies have
focused on offspring of people with insomnia.
Yet insomnia, which refers to a number of sleep disturbances
including trouble falling asleep, staying asleep or waking up too
early, does seem to have a familial component and is also a very
prevalent sleep disorder. According to the sleep academy, some 30
percent of adults have symptoms of insomnia, while less than 10
percent have chronic insomnia.
For this study, 450 boys and 348 girls, mean age just over 14,
completed a sleep and health questionnaire. Both children of
insomniacs and non-insomniacs were included.
Children of insomniac parents were almost three times more
likely to report symptoms of insomnia themselves, more than twice
as likely to report fatigue, and more than five times as likely to
report using hypnotic drugs.
Even more troubling, almost 17 percent of children with parents
who had insomnia reported suicidal ideation (thoughts and
behavior), 9.5 percent reported suicide plans, and 9.5 percent
reported actual suicide attempts during the past year. This
compared to 5.3 percent, 1.5 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively,
of teens whose parents did not suffer from insomnia.
"We have known just in the last year or so that having insomnia
makes that individual at high risk for major depression later in
life, but this is, to my knowledge, the first time we've looked at
offspring and realized we have a significant problem," Arand
said.
A second study also reported at the meeting showed an
association between sleeping problems and suicidal behavior in
children and adolescents with depressive disorders.
Researchers at Sao Paulo University in Brazil found that 83.8
percent of children and adolescents in the study, all of whom had
bipolar or unipolar disorder, had sleep disturbances. There was a
strong link between sleep disturbances and suicidal behavior.
Experts recommend that adolescents get nine hours of sleep a
night and that younger, school-aged children get 10 to 11 hours
every evening.
More information
Visit the
American Academy of Sleep Medicine for more on
insomnia.
