A team of researchers from the University of Iowa investigated how sleep characteristics relate to the health of children from different countries.
The investigators measured the health-related quality of life using the KIDSCREEN-10 survey and used multilevel regression models to determine the relationships between sleep characteristics and the health-related quality of life.
The study results found considerable variation in sleep characteristics, especially for sleep duration and timing, across the 12 study sites. Overall, there was no link between device-measured total sleep time, sleep timing, or sleep efficiency and health-related quality of life.
On the other hand, self-reported rating of poor sleep quantity and quality was linked to health-related quality of life.
“Self-reported, rather than device-based, measures of sleep are related to HRQoL in children,” the authors wrote. “The discrepancy related to sleep assessment methods highlights the importance of considering both device-measured and self-reported measures of sleep in understanding its health effects.”
