A cross-lagged panel analysis of children's sleep, attention, and mood in a prenatally stressed cohort: The QF2011 Queensland flood study. Simcock Gabrielle,Cobham Vanessa E,Laplante David P,Elgbeili Guillaume,Gruber Reut,Kildea Sue,King Suzanne Journal of affective disorders BACKGROUND:It is well recognized that childhood sleep, attention and mood problems increase risk for multiple adverse outcomes across the life-span; therefore, understanding factors, such as prenatal maternal stress, that underlie these types of childhood problems is critical for developing interventions that may optimize longer-term functioning. Our goal was to determine the association between disaster-related stress in pregnancy and young children's sleep, attention, and anxious/depressed symptoms. METHODS:Soon after a major flood in Australia in 2011, we assessed various aspects of disaster-related prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) in women who had been pregnant at the time. Mothers rated several domains of their children's development with the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) at ages 2½ (n = 134) and 4 years (n = 118). RESULTS:The primary finding was that more severe objective flood-related hardship in pregnancy predicted higher sleep problem scores at 2½ years, and that a negative maternal cognitive appraisal of the flood predicted lower attention problem scores at 2½ years. A cross-lagged panel analysis examined the association between children's sleep, attention, and anxious/depressed symptoms within and across ages. Results showed that these problems were likely to co-occur at each age, and that they were stable from 2½ to 4 years. Additionally, anxious/depressed scores at age 2½ predicted sleep problem scores at 4 years, all else being equal. LIMITATIONS:Limitations of the study include a relatively small sample size and the children's outcome data relied on maternal report using the CBCL, rather than independent observation of the children's functioning, which may have introduced reporter bias. CONCLUSIONS:These findings highlight the importance of early intervention for these childhood problems to optimize long-term mental health, particularly under conditions of prenatal stress. 10.1016/j.jad.2019.05.041

Early-Life Exposure to PM and Sleep Disturbances in Preschoolers from 551 Cities of China. American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine Air pollution has been linked with sleep disturbance in adults, but the association in children remains unclear. To examine the associations of prenatal and postnatal exposure to fine particulate matter (particulate matter ⩽2.5 μm in aerodynamic diameter; PM) with sleep quality and sleep disturbances among children in 551 Chinese cities. A total of 1,15,023 children aged 3-7 years from the Chinese National Cohort of Motor Development were included. Sleep quality was measured using the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ). PM exposure was estimated using a satellite-based model. Generalized additive mixed models with Gaussian and binomial distributions were used to examine the associations of PM exposure with CSHQ scores and risk of sleep disturbance, respectively, adjusting for demographic characteristics and temporal trends. Early-life PM exposure was associated with higher total CSHQ score, and the association was stronger for exposure at age 0-3 years (change of CSHQ score per interquartile range increase of PM = 0.46; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.29-0.63) than during pregnancy (0.22; 95% CI, 0.12-0.32). The associations were more evident in sleep-disordered breathing and daytime sleepiness. Postnatal PM exposure was associated with increased risk of sleep disturbance (adjusted odds ratio for per-interquartile range increase of PM exposure at age 0-3 years, 1.10; 95% CI, 1.04-1.15), but no associations were found for prenatal exposure. Children who were exclusively breastfed for <6 months and had neonatal ICU admission may be more vulnerable to sleep disturbance related to PM exposure. PM exposure can impair sleep quality in preschool children. 10.1164/rccm.202204-0740OC