Prevalence of sleep disorders in children of a public hospital in São Paulo.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the prevalence of sleep disorders in a sample of children from a public hospital in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. METHOD 330 children, who came to the clinical laboratory, were consecutively investigated for sleep disorders, using the sleep disturbance scale for children. Gender, age, and social/economical classification were considered. RESULTS Sleep disordered breathing (SDB) showed higher prevalence in our sample (55%) than in data found in the literature. Prevalence of sleep hyperhydrosis (SHY) was 27% considering the whole sample. Boys and children in age range 7.1 to 11 years old showed higher prevalence for SDB as well as children belonging to lower social/economic classifications who were also more prevalent for disorders in the transition of sleep-wakefulness. CONCLUSION Sleep disorders were highly prevailing in our study, mostly SDB and SHY which were exceedingly more prevalent in boys in relation to international literature.