TY - JOUR
T1 - Sleeping through COVID-19
T2 - a longitudinal comparison of 2019 and 2020 infant auto-videosomnography metrics
AU - Kahn, Michal
AU - Gradisar, Michael
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.
PY - 2022/6
Y1 - 2022/6
N2 - Background: With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, pediatric experts called attention to the potential adverse effects of living restrictions (e.g., lockdown) on child well-being, but at the same time– acknowledged their possible benefits. To date, only few data-driven reports have been published on child sleep during COVID-19, and all have been based on parent- or self-reports. This study used auto-videosomnography to capture the effects of COVID-19 stay-at-home orders imposed in the USA on objectively measured infant sleep. Methods: Auto-videosomnography metrics of infants assessed nightly between January and May 2020 were compared with metrics of an equivalent infant cohort, assessed in the corresponding 2019 period. A total of 610 infants (50.7% girls) aged 6–18 months (M = 11.8, SD = 3.6) were included, with 71,472 analyzed nights. Multilevel models were applied to assess differences between 2019 and 2020 infant sleep pre- and during-lockdown. Results: Whereas infant cohorts were equivalent in demographic and January–March/April sleep characteristics, during the 2020 lockdown infants had longer nighttime sleep durations (Mdifference = 11.0 min, p =.01), later morning rise times (Mdifference = 9.5 min, p =.008), and later out-of-crib times (Mdifference = 12.3 min, p <.0001), compared to the equivalent 2019 period. In addition, weekday-weekend differences in sleep onset and midpoint times were diminished during 2020 home-confinement compared to the equivalent 2019 period (2019: Mdifference = 5.5 min, p <.0001; Mdifference = 4.5 min, p <.0001; 2020: Mdifference = 2.3 min, p =.01; Mdifference = 3.1 min, p <.0001, respectively). Conclusions: Notwithstanding the negative implications of COVID-19 living restrictions in other domains, our findings indicate that there might be a silver lining—in promoting longer and more consistent infant sleep. These benefits should be considered in determining policy for the current and future pandemics.
AB - Background: With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, pediatric experts called attention to the potential adverse effects of living restrictions (e.g., lockdown) on child well-being, but at the same time– acknowledged their possible benefits. To date, only few data-driven reports have been published on child sleep during COVID-19, and all have been based on parent- or self-reports. This study used auto-videosomnography to capture the effects of COVID-19 stay-at-home orders imposed in the USA on objectively measured infant sleep. Methods: Auto-videosomnography metrics of infants assessed nightly between January and May 2020 were compared with metrics of an equivalent infant cohort, assessed in the corresponding 2019 period. A total of 610 infants (50.7% girls) aged 6–18 months (M = 11.8, SD = 3.6) were included, with 71,472 analyzed nights. Multilevel models were applied to assess differences between 2019 and 2020 infant sleep pre- and during-lockdown. Results: Whereas infant cohorts were equivalent in demographic and January–March/April sleep characteristics, during the 2020 lockdown infants had longer nighttime sleep durations (Mdifference = 11.0 min, p =.01), later morning rise times (Mdifference = 9.5 min, p =.008), and later out-of-crib times (Mdifference = 12.3 min, p <.0001), compared to the equivalent 2019 period. In addition, weekday-weekend differences in sleep onset and midpoint times were diminished during 2020 home-confinement compared to the equivalent 2019 period (2019: Mdifference = 5.5 min, p <.0001; Mdifference = 4.5 min, p <.0001; 2020: Mdifference = 2.3 min, p =.01; Mdifference = 3.1 min, p <.0001, respectively). Conclusions: Notwithstanding the negative implications of COVID-19 living restrictions in other domains, our findings indicate that there might be a silver lining—in promoting longer and more consistent infant sleep. These benefits should be considered in determining policy for the current and future pandemics.
KW - Sleep
KW - coronavirus
KW - home-confinement
KW - infancy
KW - videosomnography
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85112772671&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/jcpp.13509
DO - 10.1111/jcpp.13509
M3 - ???researchoutput.researchoutputtypes.contributiontojournal.article???
C2 - 34409612
AN - SCOPUS:85112772671
SN - 0021-9630
VL - 63
SP - 693
EP - 700
JO - Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines
JF - Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines
IS - 6
ER -