Citation

Tso W, Rao N, Jiang F, Li AM, Lee SL, Ho FK, Li SL, Ip P. J. Pediatr. 2015; 169: 266-271.

Affiliation

Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. Electronic address: patricip@hku.hk.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jpeds.2015.10.064

PMID

26608085

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To examine the average sleep duration in Chinese preschoolers and to investigate the association between sleep duration and school readiness. STUDY DESIGN: This is a cross-sectional study that included 553 Chinese children (mean age = 5.46 years) from 20 preschools in 2 districts of Hong Kong. Average daily sleep duration in the last week was reported by parents and school readiness as measured by the teacher-rated Chinese Early Development Instrument (CEDI).

RESULTS: Most Chinese preschoolers had 9-10 hours of sleep per day. Only 11% of preschoolers had the recommended 11-12 hours of sleep per day. This group was associated with more "very ready" CEDI domains. Sleep deprivation (≤7 hours per day) was associated with a lower CEDI total score, lower scores in the emotional maturity and language/cognitive domain, and prosocial behaviors subdomain but a greater score in the hyperactivity/inattention subdomain. Children with a lower family socioeconomic index, lower maternal education level, infrequent parent-child interactions, and who used electronic devices for more than 3 hours per day had shortened sleep durations.

CONCLUSIONS: Optimal sleep duration was associated with better school readiness in preschool children, whereas sleep deprivation was associated with lower school readiness, more hyperactivity and inattention, and less prosocial behavior.

Language: en