Effective Factors Related to Sleep Disorder in Infants Under 12 Months Old.

Abstract

Objective  Infant sleep problems are ranked as one of the leading sources of stress for many families. The present study was conducted to determine the effective factors related to sleep disorders in infants under 12 months old. Materials and Methods  In this cross-sectional study, 410 infants who were referred to the sleep department were evaluated. The Brief Infant Sleep Questionnaire (BISQ) was used to assess the infants' sleep patterns. Statistical tests such as analysis of variance (ANOVA), Chi-squared, and linear regression analysis were used to compare the mean and percentage across the infant age groups and to determine the risk factors related to infant sleep disorders. Results  Out of 410 infants, 289 (70.5%) had at least 1 of the symptoms of sleep disorder. The highest and lowest percentages for sleep disorders were related to "waking for more than 1 hour at night" and "sleeping less than 540 minutes in 24 hours" with 50% and 23.7%, respectively. The results of the linear regression analysis showed that the factors of age (β = -1.04; 95% CI; -1.55-0.53) and parent perception (β = -0.31; 95% CI; 0.24-0.37) had significant effects on infant sleep disorders. Conclusion  The percentage of infant sleep disorder was rather high among the samples studied, and the age and parent perception variables were recognized as effective factors related to sleep disorder. Health providers and medical staff need to pay more attention to providing the necessary interventions considering infants' age and parents' perception.