Correlations between sleep disturbance and brain cortical morphometry in healthy children

Authors: NA, XIAOXU - University Arkansas For Medical Sciences (UAMS); LI, TING - University Arkansas For Medical Sciences (UAMS); LARSON-PRIOR, LINDA - University Arkansas For Medical Sciences (UAMS); BALDWIN, CAROLINE - Arkansas Children'S Nutrition Research Center (ACNC); Badger, Thomas; OU, XIAWEI - University Arkansas For Medical Sciences (UAMS)

Submitted to: Sleep Science and Practice
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/6/2021
Publication Date: 11/25/2021
Citation: Na, X., Li, T., Larson-Prior, L., Baldwin, C.E., Badger, T.M., Ou, X. 2021. Correlations between sleep disturbance and brain cortical surface area in children. Sleep Science and Practice. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41606-021-00068-0.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s41606-021-00068-0

Interpretive Summary: The importance of adequate sleep to normal brain development in children is well known. Despite that, many school-age children receive less than recommended amount of sleep per night, and sleep disturbance issues are common. In this study, we recruited healthy 8-year-old children for an evaluation of chronic sleep disturbance using parent-completed questionnaire, followed by a magnetic resonance imaging examination of the brain to evaluate brain cortical development which is essential for cognitive function and behavior. While these children never had a clinical diagnosis of sleep issues before, the questionnaire shows that many were not completely free of sleep disturbance. The results showed that the greater degree of sleep disturbance in the children, the less cortical development (measured by a parameter called cortical surface area) in multiple regions of the brain. Our results indicated that even small variations in sleep quality may have important effects on brain cortical development, which may lead to changes in cognitive function and behavior in children. The studies add to the scientific evidence supporting sleep guidelines and health in children.

Technical Abstract: While the importance of adequate sleep to normal brain development is well known, more studies are needed to characterize how chronic sleep disturbance impacts brain structure in children. We aim to understand the relationships between sleep disturbance and cortical gyrification in typically-developing 8-year-old children without previous diagnoses of sleep pathology. Healthy children (N=67) were recruited for an MRI examination of the brain and their parents completed the Children’s Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ). Total sleep disturbance score, as well as 8 subscales including bedtime resistance, sleep onset delay, sleep duration, sleep anxiety, night waking, parasomnias, sleep disordered breathing, and daytime sleepiness were calculated, and their correlations with cortical surface area in 34 regions of the brain defined by the Desikan atlas were investigated. The CSHQ total sleep disturbance score significantly correlated with cortical surface area in the left ventromedial prefrontal cortex (R=-0.40, corrected P=0.03) and in the left middle temporal gyrus (R=-0.41, P=0.02). The correlations were all negative, indicating that the more sleep disturbance, the less cortical surface area development. In addition, the bedtime resistance subscale negatively correlated with cortical surface area in the right parahippocampal gyrus (R=-0.44, P=0.006); and the sleep anxiety subscale negatively correlated with cortical surface area in the right paracentral gyrus (R=-0.47, P=0.002). Significant correlations between sleep disturbance scores in typically developing children and their cortical surface area in several brain regions were identified, indicating that even small variations in sleep quality may potentially have important effects on gyrification and normal development of the brain.