Identification of longitudinal sleep patterns from infancy to school age and their impact on cognitive development.

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K14150
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 09030:Childhood and nursery/pre-school education-related
• Research Institution: Hamamatsu University School of Medicine
• Principal Investigator: Suzuki Haruka 浜松医科大学, 子どものこころの発達研究センター, 技術補佐員 (90836529)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 睡眠 / 潜在クラス分析 / 認知機能 / コホート研究

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The present study examined longitudinal sleep trajectories at three time points (10 months, 32 months, and 9 years of age) in 788 children participating in the HBC Study. A latent class growth analysis was conducted using two variables, sleep duration and sleep onset time, and seven trajectory classes were identified. When compared to the average class for both sleep duration and sleep onset, the average sleep duration and late sleep onset class had lower scores for processing speed at age 9, and the short sleep duration and late sleep onset class also had lower processing speed scores at age 9. However, controlling for ASD and ADHD traits measured at age 9, the above associations were not significant, suggesting that the association between sleep and cognitive function is confounded by these traits.

Free Research Field

子ども学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究では、睡眠時間と入眠時刻という2つの要因を複合的に考慮し、睡眠の軌跡クラスを特定した。学齢期には、子どもの睡眠は社会生活リズムに合わせたものになっており、平均に収束する傾向があるものの、生後10ヶ月時の睡眠の特徴は、9歳ごろまで大きく変化せず、この時期の睡眠特性の測定が重要な意義をもつことを示唆する。また10ヶ月時の遅寝は、9歳時点での認知機能と関連していたが、これにはASDやADHDといった神経発達症の特性が交絡している可能性があった。このことは、乳幼児期の遅寝が不良なアウトカムに直接関連する訳ではなく、神経発達特性を含めた生得的な特性を考慮すべきであることを示している。