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Meta-Analysis
. 2021 Aug:84:259-267.
doi: 10.1016/j.sleep.2021.06.002. Epub 2021 Jun 11.

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on sleep in children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Mohit Sharma  1 , Shivali Aggarwal  2 , Priyanka Madaan  3 , Lokesh Saini  4 , Mohit Bhutani  5
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on sleep in children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Mohit Sharma et al. Sleep Med. 2021 Aug.

Abstract

Objective: This systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to study the prevalence and pattern of sleep disturbances in children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Web of Science were searched for original studies describing sleep abnormalities in children and adolescents with or without pre-existing neurobehavioral disorders during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pooled estimates for various sleep abnormalities were calculated using a random-effect model.

Results: Of 371 articles screened, 16 studies were included. Among these, five studies were in preschool children, two were in children with pre-existing neurobehavioral disorders and the remaining were in school going children and adolescents. The outcome measures used for sleep were markedly heterogeneous across the studies. The pooled prevalence of any sleep disturbance in children during the pandemic was 54%(95%CI:50-57%). Interestingly, the prevalence in pre-school children was lower than pre-pandemic times (RR = 0.87; 95% CI:0.58-1.30) but this was not statistically significant. The pooled prevalence of children not meeting sleep recommendation was 49% (95%CI: 39-58%).

Conclusion: The prevalence of sleep problems in children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic is alarming. Pre-school children had a trend towards relatively fewer sleep disturbances due to home confinement measures in comparison with pre-pandemic times. Sleep duration recommendations were not met in nearly half of healthy children. However, these conclusions need to be seen in light of limited literature on the topic, few included studies done in heterogenous populations, and dubious quality of inferences drawn from these studies which were predominantly online surveys.

Prospero registration id: CRD42020213788.

Keywords: Adolescents; COVID-19; Children; Pandemic; Sleep.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflict of interest to disclose with regard to this article.

The ICMJE Uniform Disclosure Form for Potential Conflicts of Interest associated with this article can be viewed by clicking on the following link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2021.06.002.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
PRISMA flow diagram.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Forest plot for the frequency of any sleep disturbance in children during the COVID-19 pandemic and home confinement.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Forest plot for any sleep disturbance in children (preschool) during and before the COVID-19 pandemic and home confinement.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Forest plot for the proportion of children not meeting sleep duration recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic and home confinement.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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