Sleep alterations in childhood victims of sexual and physical abuse

Miguel Ángel Collado-Corona; Arturo Loredo-Abdalá; Jorge Luis Serrano-Morales; Paul Shkurovich-Bialik; Mario Shkurovich-Zaslavsky; Emilio Arch-Tirado

2005, Number 4

<< Back Next >>

Cir Cir 2005; 73 (4)

Sleep alterations in childhood victims of sexual and physical abuse

Collado-Corona MA, Loredo-Abdalá A, Serrano-Morales JL, Shkurovich-Bialik P, Shkurovich-Zaslavsky M, Arch-Tirado E

Full text

How to cite this article

Language: Spanish
References: 25
Page: 297-301
PDF size: 119.98 Kb.

ABSTRACT

Introduction: The abused child syndrome is related to a variety of emotional disorders, among which are the “post-traumatic stress syndrome” and the phenomena “re-experience,” which is related to disturbances of the normal sleep-wake cycle.
Objective: To determine the polysomnographic characteristics of the abused child syndrome and compare them with paired healthy children.
Material and methods: After two-night habituation, all-night video-digital polygraphic recordings following recommendations of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology were performed in 15 abused child syndrome and 15 healthy controls.
Results: In the abused child syndrome patients, the main sleep changes were decreased sleep efficiency, decreased sleep onset sleep latency, increased wakefulness, decreased REM sleep and total sleep time.
Conclusions: The abused child syndrome have abnormal sleep patterns, independent of the type of abuse, age or sex. Sleep alterations are a new characteristic of the abused child syndrome, not previously described.

REFERENCES

Loredo-Abdalá A. Maltrato al menor. México: Interamericana McGraw-Hill; 1994. pp. 15-16.
2. Loredo-Abdalá A, Trejo-Hernández J, Bustos VV, Sánchez VA, Moreno FMI. Maltrato al menor: una urgencia médica y social que requiere atención multidisciplinaria. Bol Med Hosp Infant Mex 1999;56(2):129-132.
3. Reece R. Fatal child abuse and sudden infant death syndrome: a critical diagnostic decision. Pediatrics 1993;91(2):223-229.
4. Fernández-Guardiola A, Calvo JM, Salin-Pascual R, Shkurovich M, Cornejo JG, De la Fuente JR. Sleep and its disorders. Gac Med Mex 1991;127(3):289-309.
5. CIE-10. Trastornos mentales y del comportamiento. Madrid: Meditor; 1992.
6. Lavie P, Kaminer H. Dreams that poison sleep: dreaming in holocaust survivors. Dreaming 1991;1:11-21.
7. Hurwitz TM, Mahowald MW, Egli E, Woods S, Callies A. Sleep in chronic posttraumatic stress disorder: a preliminary report of clinical and polysomnographic findings in Vietnam combat veterans. Association of Professional Sleep Societies (Abstr.) 1994;381:195.
8. Dagan Y, Lavie P, Bleich A. Elevated awakening thresholds in sleep stage 3-4 in war-related post-traumatic stress. Biol Psychiatry 1991;
30:618-622.
9. Kramer M, Kinney L. Sleep patterns in trauma victims with disturbed dreaming. Psychiatr J Univ Ott 1988;13(1):6-12.
10. Ross RJ, Ball WA, Sullivan KA, Caroff SN. Sleep disturbance as the hallmark of posttraumatic stress disorder. Am J Psychiatry 1989;146:697-707.
11. March JS. Sleep disturbance in PTSD. Am J Psychiatry 1999;147(12):
1697-1698.
12. Reynolds CF III. Sleep disturbance in PTSD: pathogenetic or epiphenomenal? Am J Psychiatry 1989;146(6):695-696.
13. Brown TM, Boudewyns PA. Periodic limb movements of sleep in combat veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder. J Traumatic Stress 1996;(9)1:
129-136.
14. Teicher MH, Glod CA, Surrey J, Swett C Jr. Early childhood abuse and limbic system ratings in adult psychiatric outpatients. J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 1993;5:301-306.
15. Glod CA, Teicher MH. Increased nocturnal activity and impaired sleep maintenance in abused children. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 1997;36(9):1236-1243.
16. Young W, Knowles JB, MacLean AW. The sleep of childhood depressives: comparison with age-matched controls. Biol Psychiatry 1982;17:1163-1169.
17. Coble PA, Kupfer DJ, Reynolds CF, Houck P. EEG sleep of healthy children 6 to 12 years of age. In: Guilleminault C, editor. Sleep and its disorders in children. New York: Raven Press; 1987.
18. Hennessey MB. Both prevention of physical contact and removal of distal cues mediate cortisol and vocalization responses of guinea pig pups to maternal separation in a novel environment. Physiol Behavior 1988;43:
723-733.
19. Hennessey MB, Tamborski A, Schliml P. The influence of maternal separation on plasma concentrations of ACTH, epinephrine and norepinephrine in Guinea pups. Physiol Behav 1989;45:1147-1152.
20. Hennessey MB, Becker LA, O’Neil DR. Peripherally administered CRH suppresses the vocalizations of isolated guinea pigs pups. Physiol Behav 1991;50:17-22.
21. Arch-Tirado E, McCowan B, Saltijeral-Oaxaca J, Zarco-de Coronado I, Licona-Bonilla J. Development of isolation-induced vocal behavior in normal hearing and deafened guinea pig infants. J Speech Lang Hear Res 2000;43(2):432-440.