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. 2023 Jul 10;10(7):1189.
doi: 10.3390/children10071189.

Behavioral and Sleep Disorders in Children and Adolescents following COVID-19 Disease: A Case-Control Study

Michele Miraglia Del Giudice  1 , Angela Klain  1 , Giulio Dinardo  1 , Elisabetta D'Addio  1 , Chiara Lucia Bencivenga  1 , Cristina Fontanella  2 , Fabio Decimo  1 , Giuseppina Rosaria Umano  1 , Margherita Siciliano  2 , Marco Carotenuto  2 , Cristiana Indolfi  1
Affiliations

Behavioral and Sleep Disorders in Children and Adolescents following COVID-19 Disease: A Case-Control Study

Michele Miraglia Del Giudice et al. Children (Basel). .

Abstract

Introduction: Recent studies show that neuropsychiatric disorders are the most frequent sequelae of COVID-19 in children.

Purpose: Our work aimed to evaluate the impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection on behavior and sleep in children and adolescents.

Materials and methods: We enrolled 107 patients aged 1.5-18 years who contracted COVID-19 between one year and one month prior to data collection, referred to the University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli in Italy. We asked their parents to complete two standardized questionnaires for the assessment of behavior (Child Behavior CheckList (CBCL)) and sleep (Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children (SLDS)). We analysed and compared the results with a control group (pre-COVID-19 pandemic).

Results: In the COVID-19 group, the major results were found for sleep breathing disorders, sleep-wake transition disorders and disorders of initiating and maintaining sleep for the SDSC questionnaire, and internalizing scale, total scale and anxiety/depression for the CBCL questionnaire. The comparison of the CBCL results of the cases with the controls revealed statistically significant differences for the following items: internalizing scale, externalizing scale, somatic complaints, total score, thought problems [(p < 0.01)], anxious/depressed problems and withdrawn [(p < 0.001)].

Conclusions: COVID-19 has impacted children's and adolescents' mental health. Adolescents were the most affected patient group for internalizing problems, including anxiety and depression.

Keywords: CBCL; COVID-19; SDSC; adolescents; behavior; children; long COVID; neuropsychiatric disorders; sleep.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
SDSC item results, expressed as percentage frequencies in the sample of 107 COVID-19 patients.
Figure 2
Figure 2
CBCL item results, expressed as percentage frequencies, for syndromic scales divided into clinical, borderline and normal ranges in the sample of 107 COVID-19 patients.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Results of CBCL scales 1.5–5 expressed as categorical variables (percentage frequencies).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Results of CBCL scale 6–18 expressed as categorical variables (percentage frequencies).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Results of the CBCL 6–18 scales expressed as categorical variables (percentage frequencies).
Figure 6
Figure 6
Results of the SDSC scale expressed as categorical variables (percentage frequencies) in the control group.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Results of the CBCL scale expressed as categorical variables (percentage frequencies) in the control group.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Results of the comparison between case and control for CBCL items. ** statistically significant (p < 0.01), *** statistically significant (p < 0.001).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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