Estimating adolescent sleep patterns: parent reports versus adolescent self-report surveys, sleep diaries, and actigraphy

In research and clinical contexts, parent reports are often used to gain information about the sleep patterns of their adolescents; however, the degree of concordance between parent reports and adolescent-derived measures is unclear. The present study compares parent estimates of adolescent sleep patterns with adolescent self-reports from surveys and sleep diaries, together with actigraphy. Methods: A total of 308 adolescents (59% male) aged 13–17 years completed a school sleep habits survey during class time at school, followed by a 7-day sleep diary and wrist actigraphy. Parents completed the Sleep, Medical, Education and Family History Survey. Results: Parents reported an idealized version of their adolescent’s sleep, estimating significantly earlier bedtimes on both school nights and weekends, significantly later wake times on weekends, and significantly more sleep than either the adolescent self-reported survey, sleep diary, or actigraphic estimates. Conclusion: Parent reports indicate that the adolescent averages a near-optimal amount of sleep on school nights and a more than optimal amount of sleep on weekends. However, adolescent-derived averages indicate patterns of greater sleep restriction. These results illustrate the importance of using adolescent-derived estimates of sleep patterns in this age group and the importance of sleep education for both adolescents and their parents

Sleep spindles track cortical learning patterns for memory consolidation

Memory consolidation—the transformation of labile memory traces into stable long-term representations—is facilitated by post-learning sleep. Computational and biophysical models suggest that sleep spindles may play a key mechanistic role for consolidation, igniting structural changes at cortical sites involved in prior learning. Here, we tested the resulting prediction that spindles are most pronounced over learning-related cortical areas and that the extent of this learning-spindle overlap predicts behavioral measures of memory consolidation. Using high-density scalp electroencephalography (EEG) and polysomnography (PSG) in healthy volunteers, we first identified cortical areas engaged during a temporospatial associative memory task (power decreases in the alpha/beta frequency range, 6–20 Hz). Critically, we found that participant-specific topographies (i.e., spatial distributions) of post-learning sleep spindle amplitude correlated with participant-specific learning topographies. Importantly, the extent to which spindles tracked learning patterns further predicted memory consolidation across participants. Our results provide empirical evidence for a role of post-learning sleep spindles in tracking learning networks, thereby facilitating memory consolidation

Resiliency as a mediator of the impact of sleep on child and adolescent behavior

First published online 23 December 2013Background: Disturbed sleep is detrimental to child behavior; however, the precise means by which this association occurs is unclear. Sleep and resilience can theoretically share an underlying neural mechanism and therefore influence one another. However, the role of resilience in the association between sleep and behavior is not known. The associations between sleep, resilience, and problematic behavior in children and adolescents aged 7–18 years were investigated in this study. Methods: A correlational design was used to determine the relationships between total sleep problems, indices of resilience, and internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Results: Sleep problems and resiliency variables were strongly correlated, and further, sleep problems were found to be predictive of resiliency scores. Resiliency significantly mediated the relationship between increased sleep problems and both overall internalizing and externalizing behavior problems, and specifically, measures of depression and anxiety. Conclusion: Sleep impacted levels of resilience such that greater sleep disturbance reduced resilience and consequently increased problematic behavior, potentially predisposing individuals to psychopathology.Alex Chatburn, Scott Coussens, Mark J Kohle

Rapid Systematic Review: The Impact of Social Isolation and Loneliness on the Mental Health of Children and Adolescents in the Context of COVID-19

OBJECTIVE: Disease containment of COVID-19 has necessitated widespread social isolation. We aimed to establish what is known about how loneliness and disease containment measures impact on the mental health in children and adolescents. METHOD: For this rapid review, we searched MEDLINE, PSYCHINFO, and Web of Science for articles published between 01/01/1946 and 03/29/2020. 20% of articles were double screened using pre-defined criteria and 20% of data was double extracted for quality assurance. RESULTS: 83 articles (80 studies) met inclusion criteria. Of these, 63 studies reported on the impact of social isolation and loneliness on the mental health of previously healthy children and adolescents (n=51,576; mean age 15.3) 61 studies were observational; 18 were longitudinal and 43 cross sectional studies assessing self-reported loneliness in healthy children and adolescents. One of these studies was a retrospective investigation after a pandemic. Two studies evaluated interventions. Studies had a high risk of bias although longitudinal studies were of better methodological quality. Social isolation and loneliness increased the risk of depression, and possibly anxiety at the time loneliness was measured and between 0.25 to 9 years later. Duration of loneliness was more strongly correlated with mental health symptoms than intensity of loneliness. CONCLUSION: Children and adolescents are probably more likely to experience high rates of depression and probably anxiety during and after enforced isolation ends. This may increase as enforced isolation continues. Clinical services should offer preventative support and early intervention where possible and be prepared for an increase in mental health problems

Loneliness and mental health in children and adolescents with pre-existing mental health problems: A rapid systematic review

Objectives: Periods of social isolation are associated with loneliness in children and young people, and loneliness is associated with poor mental and physical health. Children and young people with pre-existing mental health difficulties may be prone to loneliness. Containment of COVID-19 has necessitated widespread social isolation, with unprecedented school closures and restrictions imposed on social interactions. This rapid review aimed to establish what is known about the relationship between loneliness and mental health problems in children and young people with pre-existing mental health problems. Methods: We sought to identify all primary research that examined the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between loneliness/perceived social isolation and mental health in children and young people with pre-existing mental health problems. We also aimed to identify effective interventions that reduce the adverse impact of loneliness. A rapid systematic search was conducted using MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and Web of Science. Results: Of 4,531 papers screened, 15 included children and young people with pre-existing mental health conditions. These 15 studies included 1,536 children and young people aged between 6 and 23 years with social phobia, anxiety and/or depression, and neurodevelopmental disorders. Loneliness was associated with anxiety and depression both cross-sectionally and prospectively in children and young people with mental health problems and neurodevelopmental conditions. We found preliminary evidence that psychological treatments can help to reduce feelings of loneliness in this population. Conclusions: Loneliness is associated with depression and anxiety in children and young people with pre-existing mental health conditions, and this relationship may be bidirectional. Existing interventions to address loneliness and/or mental health difficulties in other contexts may be applied to this population, although they may need adaptation and testing in younger children and adolescents. Practitioner points: Loneliness is common in children and young people, and during periods of enforced social isolation such as during COVID-19, children and young people report high levels of loneliness (or increased rates of loneliness). The review showed that loneliness is associated, both cross-sectionally and prospectively, in children and young people with mental health problems and also in children and young people with neurodevelopmental conditions, such as autism spectrum disorder. Thus, loneliness is a possible risk factor of which mental health providers should be aware. Maintaining social contact both by direct and by indirect means, especially through the Internet, could be important in mitigating loneliness. Interventions to address loneliness should be further developed and tested to help children and young people with pre-existing mental health problems who are lonely by preventing exacerbation of their mental health difficulties, in particular anxiety and depression

Loneliness and mental health in children and adolescents with pre-existing mental health problems:A rapid systematic review

ObjectivesPeriods of social isolation are associated with loneliness in children and young people, and loneliness is associated with poor mental and physical health. Children and young people with pre-existing mental health difficulties may be prone to loneliness. Containment of COVID-19 has necessitated widespread social isolation, with unprecedented school closures and restrictions imposed on social interactions. This rapid review aimed to establish what is known about the relationship between loneliness and mental health problems in children and young people with pre-existing mental health problems.MethodsWe sought to identify all primary research that examined the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between loneliness/perceived social isolation and mental health in children and young people with pre-existing mental health problems. We also aimed to identify effective interventions that reduce the adverse impact of loneliness. A rapid systematic search was conducted using MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and Web of Science.ResultsOf 4,531 papers screened, 15 included children and young people with pre-existing mental health conditions. These 15 studies included 1,536 children and young people aged between 6 and 23 years with social phobia, anxiety and/or depression, and neurodevelopmental disorders. Loneliness was associated with anxiety and depression both cross-sectionally and prospectively in children and young people with mental health problems and neurodevelopmental conditions. We found preliminary evidence that psychological treatments can help to reduce feelings of loneliness in this population.ConclusionsLoneliness is associated with depression and anxiety in children and young people with pre-existing mental health conditions, and this relationship may be bidirectional. Existing interventions to address loneliness and/or mental health difficulties in other contexts may be applied to this population, although they may need adaptation and testing in younger children and adolescents

The sleep EEG spectrum is a sexually dimorphic marker of general intelligence

The shape of the EEG spectrum in sleep relies on genetic and anatomical factors and forms an individual “EEG fingerprint”. Spectral components of EEG were shown to be connected to mental ability both in sleep and wakefulness. EEG sleep spindle correlates of intelligence, however, exhibit a sexual dimorphism, with a more pronounced association to intelligence in females than males. In a sample of 151 healthy individuals, we investigated how intelligence is related to spectral components of full-night sleep EEG, while controlling for the effects of age. A positive linear association between intelligence and REM anterior beta power was found in females but not males. Transient, spindle-like “REM beta tufts” are described in the EEG of healthy subjects, which may reflect the functioning of a recently described cingular-prefrontal emotion and motor regulation network. REM sleep frontal high delta power was a negative correlate of intelligence. NREM alpha and sigma spectral power correlations with intelligence did not unequivocally remain significant after multiple comparisons correction, but exhibited a similar sexual dimorphism. These results suggest that the neural oscillatory correlates of intelligence in sleep are sexually dimorphic, and they are not restricted to either sleep spindles or NREM sleep

Meeting of minds : Imagining the future of child and youth mental health research from an early career perspective

Child and youth mental health is an international public health and research priority. We are an interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral network of UK-based early career researchers (ECRs) with an interest in child and youth mental health research. In this paper, we reflect on ongoing challenges and areas for growth, offering recommendations for key stakeholders in our field including researchers, institutions, and funders. We present a vision from an ECR perspective of what child and youth mental health research could look like moving forward and we explore how the research infrastructure can support ECRs and the wider research field in making this vision a reality. We focus specifically on a) embracing complexity; b) centering diverse voices; and c) facilitating sustainable research environments and funding systems. We present recommendations for all key partners to consider alongside their local contexts and communities to actively and collaboratively drive progress and transformative change

Performances of domiciliary ventilators compared by using a parametric procedure

WOS:000379882100001International audienceBackground: Noninvasive mechanical ventilation is sufficiently widely used to motivate bench studies for evaluating and comparing performances of the domiciliary ventilators. In most (if not in all) of the previous studies, ventilators were tested in a single (or a very few) conditions, chosen to avoid asynchrony events. Such a practice does not reflect how the ventilator is able to answer the demand from a large cohort of patients with their inherent inter-patient variability. We thus developed a new procedure according which each ventilator was tested with more than 1200 "simulated" patients. Methods: Three lung mechanics (obstructive, restrictive and normal) were simulated using a mechanical lung (ASL 5000) driven by a realistic muscular pressure. 420 different dynamics for each of these three lung mechanics were considered by varying the breathing frequency and the mouth occlusion pressure. For each of the nine ventilators tested, five different parameter settings were investigated. The results are synthesized in colored maps where each color represents the ventilator (in) ability to synchronize with a given muscular pressure dynamics. A synchronizability e is then computed for each map. Results: The lung model, the breathing frequency and the mouth occlusion pressure strongly affect the synchronizability of ventilators. The Vivo 50 (Breas) and the SomnoVENT autoST (Weinmann) are well synchronized with the restrictive model ((epsilon) over bar = 86 and 78 %, respectively), whereas the Elisee 150 (ResMed), the BiPAP A40 and the Trilogy 100 (Philips Respironics) better fit with an obstructive lung mechanics ((epsilon) over bar = 87, 86 and 86 %, respectively). Triggering and pressurization performances of the nine ventilators present heterogeneities due to their different settings and operating strategies. Conclusion: Performances of domiciliary ventilators strongly depend not only on the breathing dynamics but also on the ventilator strategy. One given ventilator may be more adequate than another one for a given patient