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For Children With MS, More Sleep May Mean a Higher Quality of Life
Sleep quality was associated with improved fatigue, depression, and quality of life (QOL) in patients with pediatric onset multiple sclerosis (POMS), according to findings from a cross-sectional study published in Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders.
“Sleep, physical activity (PA), and sedentary behavior (SED) have bidirectional associations with mental health in children,” wrote Samantha Stephens, PhD, research fellow, The Hospital for Sick Kids, Toronto, Canada, and co-authors. “The relationships among sleep, PA, SED, with depressive and fatigue symptoms have not been [previously] investigated in POMS but are needed to inform sleep and PA behavior change interventions.”
To compare sleep metrics in children and adolescents with POMS with an age- and sex-matched non-MS cohort and their effect on fatigue, depression, and QOL, researchers recruited 50 pediatric patients. Study participants wore 2 actigraphy monitors to collect objective sleep and physical activity data, as well as responded to standardized questionnaires for data on sleep disturbances, depression fatigue, and QOL.
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Researchers did not observe a difference in sleep quality in POMS patients versus non-MS patients across measures of sleep efficiency, sleep time, wake after sleep onset (WASO), latency, sedentary behavior, or physical activity.
In POMS patients, less sleep time, shorter sleep onset latency, and more WASO was associated with more sedentary behavior, while higher sleep efficiency was associated with less fatigue. Further, fewer instances of WASO was associated with lower depression and fatigue.
“The results of our study shed new light on the relationships between sleep, sedentary activity, and their differential associations with mental health outcomes in children and adolescents with POMS,” Dr Stephens and co-authors concluded.
“Interventions that target multiple sleep, sedentary and physical activity behaviors at the same time through time reallocation (e.g., early time to sleep) or exercise training paradigms may be necessary to elicit meaningful changes in depression, fatigue, and quality of life in children and adolescents with POMS.”
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