Washington, Oct 2 : A new study has found that children have more problems initiating sleep than maintaining it.

The study, authored by Leonie Fricke-Oerkermann, PhD, of the University of Cologne in Germany has also revealed that parents underestimated their kids’ sleep problems, highlighting the necessity of having treatment options available to help a child overcome a sleep disorder.

According to the results, in child and parental reports, about 30 to 40 percent of the children had problems falling asleep at the first assessment. One year later, the child and parental reports indicated that about 60 percent of those children continued to have difficulties initiating sleep.

According to Dr. Fricke-Oerkermann, the striking result of the study is the difference between the children and their parents in the assessment of the children’s sleep problems.

Children described significantly more difficulties initiating and maintaining sleep than what their parents reported on their behalf.

About 40 percent of the children reported difficulties initiating sleep, which occur “sometimes”, compared to 25 to 30 percent of what the parents reported for their children. Sleep onset problems in all surveys were present in 13.5 percent of the children according to their parents and 24 percent of the children according to the children’s ratings.

These findings are supported by other studies, and imply that in epidemiological studies and in practical work, the inclusion of children’s and adolescent’s self-reports are necessary.

Dr. Fricke-Oerkermann said that It might be that parents are not informed about the sleep problems by their child. On the other hand, it might be that children in this age range have difficulties estimating the severity of their sleep problems.

Difficulties maintaining sleep are less common, with three percent (parent-reported) versus six percent (child-reported).

“These results indicate that children of this age group have a higher risk of developing difficulties initiating sleep than difficulties maintaining sleep after one year,” added Dr. Fricke-Oerkermann.

“Sleep problems in childhood and adolescence are a frequent phenomenon. Sleep problems decrease only marginally with age. Sleep problems might become chronic, requiring medical treatment,” said Dr. Fricke-Oerkermann.

The study is published in the October 1 issue of the journal Sleep. (With inputs from ANI)