Prevalence of Parasomnia in School aged Children in Tehran

OBJECTIVES: Parasomnias can create sleep disruption; in this article we assessed parasomnias in school-aged children in Tehran. METHODS: In spring 2005, a total of 6000 sleep questionnaires were distributed to school-aged children in 5 districts of Tehran (Iran). A modified Pediatrics sleep questionnaire with 34 questions was used. RESULTS: Parasomnias varied from 0.5% to 5.7% among the subjects as follows: 2.7% sleep talking, 0.5% sleepwalking, 5.7% bruxism, 2.3% enuresis, and nightmare 4%. A group of children showed parasomnias occasionally- this was 13.1% for sleep talking, 1.4% for sleepwalking, 10.6% for bruxism, 3.1% for enuresis and 18.4% for nightmares. CONCLUSION: A high proportion of children starting school suffer from sleep problems. In many cases this is a temporary, developmentally related phenomenon, but in 6% of the children the disorder is more serious and may be connected with various stress factors and further behavioral disturbances.