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. 2024 Jul 1;20(7):1069-1077.
doi: 10.5664/jcsm.11062.

Daytime sleep duration during infancy as an indicator for cognitive development at school age: a prospective cohort study

Jianfei Lin  1 , Yanrui Jiang  1 , Xinyi Xiao  1 , Qi Zhu  1 , Guanghai Wang  1 , Qingmin Lin  1 , Fan Jiang  1   2   3
Affiliations

Daytime sleep duration during infancy as an indicator for cognitive development at school age: a prospective cohort study

Jianfei Lin et al. J Clin Sleep Med. .

Abstract

Study objectives: The reduction in daytime sleep during early life is considered one of the indicators of the maturation of sleep patterns, which is closely associated with cognitive development. The current study aims to analyze the relationships between daytime sleep duration (DSD) during infancy and cognitive development at 6 and 10 years.

Methods: The study included 262 mothers with their newborns from the Shanghai Sleep Birth Cohort Study, spanning 11 follow-ups from 42 days to 10 years. Sleep parameters were assessed using parent-reported questionnaires at each follow-up, and cognitive development was evaluated with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, fourth edition at 6 and 10 years.

Results: Two distinct DSD trajectories in early childhood were identified: "typical DSD" (66.7%) and "infancy excessive DSD" (33.3%). Children in the "infancy excessive DSD" trajectory exhibited lower working memory scores than those in the "typical DSD" trajectory at 6 years (mean difference = 5.90, 95% confidence interval [1.83, 9.96], P = .005) and 10 years (mean difference = 4.37, 95% confidence interval [0.26, 8.48], P = .037). Additional analysis in a relatively homogeneous sample consistently showed correlations between DSD trajectories and working memory performance. No consistent significant differences were found in other domains of cognitive development.

Conclusions: Excessive daytime sleep during infancy may serve as an early indicator for poor working memory at school age. These findings raise concerns about the long-term cognitive development of infants with excessive DSD.

Citation: Lin J, Jiang Y, Xiao X, et al. Daytime sleep duration during infancy as an indicator for cognitive development at school age: a prospective cohort study. J Clin Sleep Med. 2024;20(7):1069-1077.

Keywords: cognitive development; daytime sleep duration; early childhood; trajectory; working memory.

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Conflict of interest statement

All authors have seen and approved the manuscript. Work for this study was performed at the Department of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Pediatric Translational Medicine Institute, National Children’s Medical Center, Shanghai Children’s Medical Center, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China. The study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82073568, 81773443, 82071493), the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (2018SHZDZX05, 21Y11907400), the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission (2022you1-2, D1502), the Innovative Research Team of High-level Local Universities in Shanghai (SHSMU-ZDCX20211900, SHSMU-ZDCX20211100), and the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission (2020CXJQ01, 2022XD056). The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Flow chart of the follow-up process.
BISQ = Brief Infant Sleep Questionnaire, CCTQ = Children’s Chronotype Questionnaire, CSHQ = Children’s Sleep Habit Questionnaire, DSD = daytime sleep duration, SSBCS = Shanghai Sleep Birth Cohort Study, WISC-IV = Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, fourth edition.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Daytime sleep duration trajectories from 42 days–6 years of age (n = 258).
Figure 3
Figure 3. WISC-IV score of children at 6 years of age (n = 179).
*P < .05. DSD = daytime sleep duration, WISC-IV = Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, fourth edition.
Figure 4
Figure 4. WISC-IV score of children at 10 years of age (n = 175).
*P < .05. DSD = daytime sleep duration, WISC-IV = Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, fourth edition.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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