OBJECTIVE

The study was conducted to examine the sleep habits and sleep disorders in children and adolescents with headache.

METHODS

Three hundred children with headache were qualified to a headache group (HG) and 284 children from schools and kindergartens without headache to a control group (CG).

RESULTS

In our study, 27.7% children of the HG slept together with other person in the bed; 18.7% of the CG. In the HG, 11.7% of children had physical contact with parents when falling asleep, in the CG 19.7%. In the HG, watching TV and listening to the radio when falling asleep occurred more frequently. About 20% of parents in the HG read aloud to children before putting them to sleep, in the CG 32.4%. Day naps occurred in 32.7% of the HG children and in 20.1% of the CG. Sleep disorders reported in the study group as parasomnia symptoms included: sleep talking 48.3% (CG 38.7%); bruxism 23.3% (CG 16.5%); leg movement 20.3% (CG 18.0%); nightmares 16.7% (CG 7.4%) and sleep breathing disorder symptoms like snoring 27.3% in the HG group (CG 19.0%) and breathing pauses 5.7% (CG 1.4%). Awakenings from the night sleep were observed in 43.7% children of the HG and in 36.4% children of the CG.

CONCLUSIONS

Sleep habits in children with headache were considerably different from sleep habits in the CG. The prevalence of sleep disorder symptoms like: snoring, sleep talking, bruxism, sleep terror, nightmares, breathing pauses and awaking from night sleep was higher in the HG group than in the CG.