Prevalence of sleep disturbances and factors associated among primary school children in Kawempe Division; a cross-sectional study.

Abstract

Sleep is of paramount importance and early identification of sleep problems may prevent negative consequences like learning difficulties and behavioural problems, daytime sleepiness, irritability, and others. Primary school children are at risk for sleep disturbances (disorders) due to dysregulated sleep caused by distractions like electronic gadgets, insufficient sleep, and other factors. To assess sleep quality in children aged 6 to 17 years, the Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children (SDSC) is one of several validated tools available for measuring sleep disturbances. Objectives. To determine the prevalence of sleep disturbances and factors associated among primary school children in Kawempe division and the reliability of the sleep disturbance scale. Methods: This was a community cross-sectional study carried out among primary school children in Kawempe division. Using random cluster sampling 548 participants were enrolled. SDSC and a semi-structured questionnaire were then administered Data was imported to Stata Version 16 for Windows. Reliability analysis was accessed by calculating Cronbach's alpha. Descriptive statistics, correlations, bivariate, and multivariate binary logistic regression were performed using the Stata package version 16 at p <0.20 and p <0.05 level of significance, and a 95% confidence interval as a measure of association between the sleep disturbance. Results: SDSC in primary school children showed an acceptable level of internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha: 0.67). Abnormal total sleep score (T- score >70) was at 3.5%, and overall, 21.7% of the children had an abnormal score on at least one SDSC factor. The factors that were found to be associated with sleep disturbance among primary school children included Children who used an electronic device before bed, slept less than 7 hours on most nights, unemployed parents and children who did not interact with parents regularly. Parents who were aged 31- 40 years were less likely to have children with sleep disorders. Children aged 9-11 years were also less likely to have sleep disorders. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that sleep disturbances in primary school children exist. Children who slept for less than 7 hours, used electronic devices before bed and those whose parents did not interact with them often, or were unemployed were more likely to have sleep disturbances while children aged between 9 -11 years and those with parents aged 31- 40 years were less likely to have the sleep disturbances. The SDSC tool in our setting was an acceptably reliable tool for accessing sleep disorders.