Abstract

Background:Sleep duration<9 hours for children age 6-12 year old is considered inadequate and harmful.Predictors of sleep duration are mainly obtained from studies in Western countries but limited in Asian countries with different cultural practices and weather.

Aim:To determine sleep duration among Malaysian school children,predictors and parental perception on normal children’s sleep time.

Method:Cross sectional study involving 980 primary school children(6-12 year old).Data collected were anthropometric measurements,tonsillar size,questionnaire–based booklet completed by parents on child's sleep pattern over weekday and weekend,socioeconomic status,home environment,pre-sleep activities and parental perception of sleep including their own sleep pattern.

Result:Mean age for the children was 9.20 year old(SD 1.64),mean sleep duration was 8.50 hours(SD 1.14)for weekdays and 9.20 hours(SD 1.34)for weekends.Inadequate sleep was found in 66.9% of children during weekdays,33.4% during weekends and 30.3% of these children had inadequate sleep throughout the week.Using multivariate logistic regression,significant predictors for inadequate sleep duration(p<0.05)were:age older than 9 years old[OR 5.27, 95% CI 3.69-7.54],poor sleep hygiene[OR 1.45, 95% CI 1.02-2.05],total household income[OR 0.5, 95% CI 0.35-0.71],inadequate parents’ sleeping duration[OR 3.22, 95% CI 1.53-6.78]and wrong perception on child’s sleep duration[OR 1.95, 95% CI 1.29-2.93].80% of parents have inadequate sleep(<7 hours)and 81.9% of parents have wrong perception on child’s sleep adequacy

Conclusion:Sleep predictors for Malaysian school children were strongly related to age,sleep hygeine,income,role of parental sleep and their perception of sleep