Prevalence and Patterns of Sleep Disorders in Diabetic children referred to Endocrine Clinic of Ali Asghar Hospital

Background: Sleep is a transient altered level of consciousness, relative suspension of sensory perceptions and inactivation of voluntary muscles during rest.It has important role in the quality of life. Some chronic diseases such as Diabetes mellitus type 1(T1D)are accompanied with sleep disturbances which may lead to poor glycemic control.Our study was conducted to investigate sleep disorders in children with type 1 diabetes.  Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 104 children with T1D referred to the endocrinology clinic from October 2018 to March 2019 in Ali Asghar Children Hospital. Patientchr(chr('39')39chr('39'))s characteristics including age, sex, weight and height were recorded in the data collection form. For each patient, questionnaire was filled out by the researcher with Children Sleep Habit Questionnaire (CSHQ).The collected data were analyzed with SPSS.  Results: In this cross-sectional study, 104 diabetic patients aged 2-17 years were enrolled. Sleep disorders had high prevalence of 94 percent.There was significant relationship between  age and sleep disturbances(pvalue=0.003).Some common abnormal items included need to parents’ attendance for sleep in 44(42%), bad mood in the morning in 35(33.5%), afraid of sleep in darkness in 29(28%), afraid of sleep alone in 25 (24%),sleep in others’ beds in 20 (19%), avoidance to go to bed in 16(15.5%),try to not start sleep in  11(10.5%) and awake with others’ force in 10(9.5%)cases was seen. Conclusion:Prevalence of sleep disorders in T1D ,irrespective to gender or BMI,is high. Preventing sleep disorders with an emphasis on screening for this problems in T1D patients and education for sleep hygiene is necessary. Keywords: Children, Diabetes mellitus, Sleep disorders