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.