Research abstract:

Childhood sleep and adolescent chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS/ME): Evidence of associations in a UK birth cohort, by Simon M Collin, Tom Norris, Paul Gringras, Peter S
Blair, Kate Tilling, Esther Crawley in Sleep Medicine [Preprint January 31, 2018]

Highlights:

• Children who develop chronic disabling fatigue (CDF) in adolescence have shorter nighttime sleep duration throughout early childhood.
• For each additional hour of nighttime sleep at age 9, the odds of CDF at age 13 were 40% lower, and for each additional hour at age 11, the odds of CDF at age 16 were 50% lower.
• Sleep abnormalities may have a causal role in CFS/ME, or sleep abnormalities and CFS/ME are related to a common pathophysiological cause.

Background:
Sleep abnormalities are characteristic of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS, also known as ‘ME’), but it is not known whether sleep might be a causal risk factor for CFS/ME.

Patients/Methods:
We analysed data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) birth cohort. We describe sleep patterns from age 6 months to 11 years in children who were subsequently classified as having (or not having) ‘chronic disabling fatigue’ (CDF, a proxy for CFS/ME) between ages 13-18 years, and investigate associations of sleep
duration at age 9 with CDF at age 13, and sleep duration at age 11 with CDF at age 16 years.

Results:
Children who had CDF during adolescence had shorter nighttime sleep duration from age 6 months to age 11 years, and there was strong  evidence that difficulties in going to sleep were more common in children who subsequently developed CDF. The odds of CDF at age 13 were 39% lower (odds ratio (OR)=0.61, 95% CI 0.43, 0.88) for each additional hour of nighttime sleep at age 9 years, and the odds of CDF at age 16 were 51% lower (OR=0.49, 95% CI 0.34, 0.70) for each additional hour of nighttime sleep at age 11. Mean nighttime sleep duration at age 9 was 13.9 (95% CI 3.75, 24.0) minutes shorter among children who developed CDF at age 13, and sleep duration at age 11 was 18.7 (95% CI 9.08, 28.4)
minutes shorter among children who developed CDF at age 16 (compared with children who did not develop CDF at 13 and 16, respectively).

Conclusions:
Children who develop chronic disabling fatigue in adolescence have shorter nighttime sleep duration throughout early childhood, suggesting that sleep abnormalities may have a causal role in CFS/ME or that sleep abnormalities and CFS/ME are related to a common pathophysiological cause.

Printed: Sleep Med. 2018 Jun;46:26-36