[Disorders of sleep in children: a vision from the primary care stand point].
OBJECTIVE
Problems with sleep are common in paediatrics. Approximately 20-25% of the child population have some type of sleep disorder. The objective of this study was to study its course, and the commonest changes seen in childhood and to suggest methodology for its study at a Primary Care level.


METHODS
We review the specific characteristics of sleep and its alterations in the paediatric age group, observing the variations in different parameters such as reduction in REM sleep. We define the concept of sleep disorder, differentiating it from a problem with sleep. We also review the different disorders, particularly sleep due to bad habits and anomalous conduct during sleep, including night terrors, nocturnal rhythms, static phenomena and respiratory changes during sleep. We assess the different studies which show a high incidence of such disorders in childhood and introduce a methodology of study in Primary Care based mainly on the clinical history and study of the circadian rhythm of the binomial child-family, suggesting two algorithms for clinical diagnosis and the indications of remission of a Paediatric Sleep Unit.


CONCLUSIONS
The presence of certain problems with sleep is a normal phenomenon at a specific time of life. It is important to associate the different problems with the age groups of presentation, and to assess the rapid changes of maturation when studying a child with a sleep disorder.
Pin-Arboledas
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Unidad Valenciana del Sueño Infantil (UVSI), Clínica Quirón Valencia, España.
D000465:Algorithms; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004775:Enuresis / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D011320:Primary Health Care; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012895:Sleep, REM / Q000502:physiology; D014851:Wakefulness / Q000502:physiology