About one in six children with spinal muscular atrophy have some form of sleep disorder, reports SMA News Today.
Researchers obtained their results using the sleep disturbance scale for children (SDSC), which assesses various sleep disturbance factors. These include disorders of initiating and maintaining sleep; sleep breathing disorders; disorders of arousal (sleepwalking, sleep terrors and nightmares); sleep-wake transition disorders (sleep twitch, rhythmic movement disorders, sleep-onset hallucinations, night-time muscle spasms and teeth grinding); disorders of excessive somnolence, and night sweats.
The study involved 85 young people, ages 6-25, with type 2 and type 3 SMA. The researchers assessed both the participants’ sleep using the SDSC questionnaire and their physical ability,using a test called the Hammersmith Functional Motor Scale Expanded (HFMSE).
The scientists observed that 16.4 percent of participants had an abnormal total sleep score, and an additional 16.7 percent had an abnormal score on at least one of the assessed sleep factors.
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