Actigraphic estimates of sleep and the sleep-wake rhythm,and 6-sulfatoxymelatonin levels in healthy Dutch children

ABSTRACT

Sleep and the sleep-wake rhythm are essential for children’s health and well-being, yet reference values are lacking. This study therefore aimed to assess actigraphic estimates of sleep and the 24-h sleep-wake rhythm, as well as 6-sulfatoxymelatonin (aMT6s) levels in healthy children of different age groups. Additionally, relationships between the outcomes and sex, highest parental educational level (as an indication of socioeconomic status (SES)), and body-mass-index (BMI) were explored. In this cross-sectional study, healthy Dutch children (2–18 years) wore an actigraph (GT3x) for 7 consecutive days, collected first-morning void urine and completed a sleep log and sociodemographic questionnaire. Actigraphically estimated sleep variables were sleep onset latency (SOL), sleep efficiency (SE), total sleep time (TST), and wake after sleep onset (WASO). Non-parametric sleep-wake rhythm variables were intradaily variability (IV); interdaily stability (IS); the activity counts and timing of the least active 5-h period (L5counts and midpoint) and of the most active 10-h period (M10 counts and midpoint); and the relative amplitude (RA), i.e. the ratio of the difference and the sum of M10 and L5 counts. Finally, creatinine-corrected aMT6s levels were obtained by isotope dilution mass spectrometry. Effects of age group (preschool 2–5 years/school-aged 6–12 years/teenager 13–18 years), sex, highest parental educational level and BMI (Z-scores) were explored. Ninety-four children participated, equally divided across age groups (53% boys). Teenagers slept less, but more efficiently, than younger children, while their 24 h sleep-wake rhythm was the least stable and most fragmented (likely due to fragmentation of daytime activity). Additionally, aMT6s levels significantly declined over the age groups. Children from highly educated parents had lower sleep efficiency, but a more stable sleep-wake rhythm. Finally, sex or increase in BMI was not associated with any of the outcomes in this study. In conclusion, this study provides reference values of healthy children across different age groups and different sociodemographic factors. In the future, this information may help to better interpret outcomes in clinical populations.     

CONSEQUENCES OF SHIFTWORKING ON SLEEP DURATION,SLEEPINESS, AND SLEEP ATTACKS

Rotating shift and permanent night work arrangements are known to compromise sleep. This study examined the effects of work schedule on sleep duration, excessive sleepiness, sleep attacks, driving, and domestic/professional accidents. A representative sample of the general population of the state of New York—3,345 individuals ≥18 yrs of age—was interviewed by telephone regarding their sleep and psychiatric and organic disorders. Multivariate models were applied to derive odds ratios (OR) after adjustment for age, sex, physical illness, mental disorders, obstructive sleep apnea, and sleep duration. On average (±SE), workers slept 6.7?±?1.5?h, but 40% slept <6.5?h/main sleep episode. Short-sleep duration (<6?h) was strongly associated with fixed night (OR: 1.7) and day-evening-night shiftwork arrangement (OR: 1.9). Some 20% of the workers manifested excessive sleepiness in situations requiring high attention, and it was associated with the fixed night (OR: 3.3) and day-evening-night work arrangements (OR: 1.5). Overall, 5% of the workers reported sleep attacks; however, they occurred three-times more frequently in the fixed night (15.3%) than other work arrangements (OR: 3.2). Driving accidents during the previous 12 months were reported by 3.6% of the workers and were associated with fixed night (OR: 3.9) and day-evening-night (OR: 2.1) work schedules. The findings of this study indicate that working outside the regular daytime hours was strongly associated with shorter sleep duration, sleepiness, and driving accident risk. Night work is the most disrupting, as it is associated with insufficient sleep during the designated rest span and excessive sleepiness and sleep attacks during the span of activity, with an associated consequence being increased driving accident risk. (Author correspondence: mohayon@stanford.edu)     

Infradian Rhythmicity in Sleep/Wake Ratio in Developing Infants

Although there are several reports on ultradian and circadian rhythms in newborns, we found only one report in which infradian periodicities are described for heart-rate measurements in the early stages of human development. Here, we report infradian rhythms in the monthly range in the sleep/wake cycle of four infants studied along 24 consecutive weeks. Our procedure was applied to sleep diary records from four healthy newborns. The data were arranged in binary time series representing sleep (?1) or wake (1) states. These time series were integrated in order to obtain the cumulative sleep/wake time. A measure of the sleep/wake ratio (SWR) was obtained by computing the average slope of the cumulative sleep/wake time. To extract periodicities we applied the Fourier periodogram to the temporal course of the SWR. We found a notorious difference in the SWR pattern among infants. In two infants the SWR showed a marked linear decay, spending more time asleep than awake, while in the two other infants oscillated near zero. We found robust oscillations in all children. In all cases the Fourier periodogram results present significant power in the infradian range. From these results, we suggest that sleep and wake durations are probably modulated by some internal stimuli.     

Twelve-Hour Night Shifts of Healthcare Workers: A Risk to the Patients?

We assessed the impact of 12h fixed night shift (19:00–07:00h) work, followed by 36h of off-time, on the sleep–wake cycle, sleep duration, self-perceived sleep quality, and work-time alertness on a group composed of 5 registered and 15 practical nurses. Wrist actigraphy (Ambulatory Monitoring, Inc.), with data analysis by the Cole-Kripke algorithm, was applied to determine sleep/wake episodes and their duration. The sleep episodes were divided into six categories: sleep during the night shift (x¯=208.6; SD±90.6mins), sleep after the night shift (x¯=138.7; SD±79.6min), sleep during the first night after the night work (x¯=318.5; SD±134.6min), sleep before the night work (x¯=104.3; SD±44.1min), diurnal sleep during the rest day (x¯=70.5; SD±43.0min), and nocturnal sleep during the rest day (x¯=310.4; SD±188.9mins). A significant difference (p<.0001; T-test for dependent samples) was detected between the perceived quality of sleep of the three diurnal sleep categories compared to the three nocturnal sleep categories. Even thought the nurses slept (napped) during the night shift, their self-perceived alertness systematically decreased during it. Statistically significant differences were documented by one-way ANOVA (F=40.534 p<.0001) among the alertness measurements done during the night shift. In particular, there was significant difference in the level of perceived alertness (p<.0001) between the 7^th and 10^thh of the 12h night shift. These findings of decreased alertness during the terminal hours of the night shift are of concern, since they suggest risk of comprised patient care.     

Human sleep and circadian rhythms: a simple model based on two coupled oscillators

We propose a model of the human circadian system. The sleep-wake and body temperature rhythms are assumed to be driven by a pair of coupled nonlinear oscillators described by phase variables alone. The novel aspect of the model is that its equations may be solved analytically. Computer simulations are used to test the model against sleep-wake data pooled from 15 studies of subjects living for weeks in unscheduled, time-free environments. On these tests the model performs about as well as the existing models, although its mathematical structure is far simpler.Supported by NIGMS Grant No. 5-R01-GM-30719-03     

灵龟八法结合火针对失眠患者睡眠质量及炎性因子水平的影响

目的:探讨灵龟八法结合火针对失眠患者睡眠质量及炎性因子水平的影响。方法:选取2017年5月～2019年3月期间空军杭州特勤疗养中心收治的失眠患者97例,根据数字表法将患者分为对照组(n=48,常规针刺治疗)和研究组(n=49,灵龟八法结合火针治疗),比较两组患者治疗4周后的临床疗效,比较两组治疗前、治疗4周后的中医症状积分、炎性因子水平,比较两组治疗前、治疗2周后、4周后的睡眠质量,记录两组治疗期间不良反应情况。结果:研究组治疗4周后的临床总有效率为93.88%(46/49),高于对照组的72.92%(35/48)(P0.05)。两组治疗4周后难以入寐、多梦易醒、头晕、心悸的症状积分均下降,且研究组低于对照组(P0.05)。两组治疗2周后、4周后匹兹堡睡眠质量指数(PSQI)评分均较治疗前降低(P0.05),研究组治疗4周后PSQI评分较治疗2周后降低(P0.05),研究组治疗4周后PSQI评分低于对照组(P0.05)。两组治疗4周后血清白介素-1β(IL-1β)、白介素-6(IL-6)、肿瘤坏死因子-α(TNF-α)水平均下降,且研究组低于对照组(P0.05)。治疗期间对照组不良反应发生率为12.50%(6/48),研究组不良反应发生率为16.33%(8/49),两组不良反应发生率对比无统计学差异(P0.05)。结论:灵龟八法结合火针治疗失眠患者,疗效显著,可改善患者临床症状,提高睡眠质量,并降低机体炎性因子水平,且安全性较好,具有一定的临床应用价值。     

OSAHS风险对患者静脉麻醉术后认知功能障碍的影响

目的:探讨OSAHS风险与静脉麻醉手术患者术后发生认知功能障碍的关系。方法:采用No SAS评分对55例静脉麻醉手术患者进行OSAHS风险评估,并将其分为对照组23例(NoSAS 8分)和OSAHS组32例(No SAS≥8分),以蒙特利尔认知评估量表(MoCA)对两组患者在术前和术后第一天进行认知功能评估,计算每位患者手术前后Mo CA评分的差值△Mo CA(术前MoCA-术后MoCA),比较两组患者手术前后的MoCA评分及△MoCA。结果:OSAHS组术前MoCA评分(25.83±1.80)明显低于对照组术前MoCA评分(28.05±1.31)(P0.05)。OSAHS组术后MoCA评分(25.13±1.64)较术前无明显变化(P0.05),对照组术后Mo CA评分(26.73±1.17)明显低于术前(P0.05)。OSAHS组△MoCA(0.39±1.03)明显低于对照组(1.32±1.08),主要表现为视空间与执行功能[(0.09±0.29) vs.(0.30±0.32)]、注意力[(0.09±0.60) vs.(0.47±0.70)]和延时回忆力[(0.17±0.39) vs.(0.47±0.51)]两方面(P0.05)。结论:OSAHS高风险患者静脉麻醉术后认知功能障碍的程度较OSAHS低风险人群显著降低。     

独活寄生汤加减治疗对风寒湿痹型腰椎间盘突出症患者生活质量、自由基代谢及睡眠质量的影响

目的:探讨独活寄生汤加减治疗对风寒湿痹型腰椎间盘突出症(LIDP)患者生活质量、自由基代谢及睡眠质量的影响。方法:选取2012年1月～2017年12月期间海南省中医院骨一科收治的风寒湿痹型LIDP患者286例。采用随机数字表法将患者分为对照组(n=143)和研究组(n=143),对照组给予常规治疗,研究组在对照组基础上联合独活寄生汤加减治疗,比较两组临床疗效,比较两组治疗前、治疗30 d后生活质量、自由基代谢及睡眠质量情况,记录两组治疗期间不良反应情况。结果:研究组临床总有效率为93.71%,显著高于对照组的66.43%(P0.05)。治疗30 d后,两组患者超氧化物歧化酶(SOD)水平升高,且研究组高于对照组(P0.05),丙二醛(MDA)水平降低,且研究组低于对照组(P0.05)。两组患者治疗前、治疗30d后活力(VT)、社会功能(SF)评分比较无差异(P0.05),两组患者治疗30d后躯体功能(PF)、躯体疼痛(BP)、躯体角色(RP)、心理健康(MH)、总体健康(GH)以及情感角色(RE)评分均较治疗前升高,且研究组较对照组升高(P0.05)。两组患者治疗30 d后匹兹堡睡眠质量指数(PSQI)评分均较治疗前降低,且研究组低于对照组(P0.05)。两组患者治疗期间不良反应发生率比较无统计学差异(P0.05)。结论:独活寄生汤加减治疗风寒湿痹型LIDP患者疗效确切,其可有效改善患者生活质量、自由基代谢及睡眠质量,且安全性较好,具有一定的临床应用价值。