Nigerian sleep study found that children slept less and had more problems than children in other countries.

AIM: We studied sleep patterns, sleep problems and associated socio-demographic factors among children aged one year to 12 years in Lagos, Nigeria.

METHODS: This prospective hospital-based study involved 432 children (55% males) who came for routine paediatric care at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital. Information on socio-demographics, sleeping patterns and specific sleep disorders was obtained.

RESULTS: The mean age of the subjects was 5.4 ± 3.3 years. Night sleep duration decreased significantly with age from 9.6 ± 1.3 hours at one to four years to 8.7 ± 1.0 hours at nine years to 12 years (p < 0.001). There was no significant gender difference in bedtimes (p = 0.057), rise times (p = 0.095) and night sleep duration (p = 0.191). Most (70%) napped during the day, and 26% of these did so on a regular basis. The most common sleep problems were enuresis (42%), afraid of sleeping alone (38%), snoring (28%) and sleep talking (24%). There was no significant association between sleep duration (p > 0.05), sleep problems (p > 0.05) and socio-demographic characteristics. Comparisons with other studies showed that the children had shorter sleep duration than peers in other countries and regions and a higher prevalence of sleep disorders.

CONCLUSION: Children in Nigeria had shorter sleep duration and more sleep problems than children in other international studies.