Preterm Children At Risk of Emotional and Attention Problems

Healthy preterm children often have sleep difficulties like restlessness and breathing problems during the night and can lead to negative emotions and lower attention.

Preterm children were found to have more medical sleep problems when compared to full-term children. However, it was also found that preterm children were more likely to fall asleep independently, reveals a new study. //

Results show that preterm children displayed more medical sleep problems such as nocturnal movement, restlessness during the night and breathing problems, compared with those born at full term. However, a lower degree of behavioral sleep problems was present in preterm children.

Brains of Preterm Children can Catch Up Years Later
Brains of many preterm babies can catch up and perform almost as well as those born at term, a good news for parents of preterm babies.

‘Preterm children's sleep problems are associated with increased negative emotionality and reduced attention span.’

"Preterm children needed less support to fall asleep and fell asleep more often alone in their own bed compared to those born at full term," said principal investigator Dr. Barbara Caravale, a researcher in the Department of Developmental and Social Psychology at Sapienza University in Rome, Italy.

"However, preterm children showed more frequent sleep difficulties, such as restlessness and breathing problems during the night."

Study results are published in the issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.

Risk of Behavioural Problems for Kids Born Before Due Time
Children born only few weeks before time are notably likelier to have behavioural and/or emotional problems in the pre-school years, suggests a published research.

The study involved 51 preterm children with normal cognitive, language, and motor development, and 57 full-term children. Their average age was 21 months. Mothers completed a series of questionnaires to assess sleep-related difficulties, sleep habits and child temperament.

The study found no differences between the two groups of children in bedtime, rise time or sleep duration. However, Caravale noted that the sleep problems reported by the parents of preterms may have resulted in sleep disruption, which could help explain significant differences in attention and emotionality.

Coticosteroids Help Reduce Risk of Lung Distress in Preterm Babies
At-risk babies may benefit from steroids after 34 weeks and babies born to mothers who had a scheduled cesarean section after 37 weeks may benefit as well.

"We observed a link between sleep pattern and temperament in preterm children," said Caravale. "Our study found that sleep problems were related to increased negative emotionality and decreased attention."

According to the authors, these results are consistent with previous studies demonstrating that children born preterm are at risk of attention and learning problems as well as emotional difficulties.

Women With Bipolar Disorder at Greater Risk of Delivering Preterm Babies
Women who have been previously hospitalized for bipolar disorder are nearly twice as likely to have premature babies compared to women without a history of mental illness

For this reason, it is important that pediatricians screen for sleep problems more rigorously in preterm children, especially with respect to sleep-related breathing disorders such as obstructive sleep apnea and sleep-related movement disorders.

Source-Eurekalert