[Sleep alterations in childhood victims of sexual and physical abuse].

Introduction: The abused child syndrome is related to a variety of emotional disorders, among which are the "post-traumatic stress syndrome" and the phenomena "re-experience," which is related to disturbances of the normal sleep-wake cycle.

Objective: To determine the polysomnographic characteristics of the abused child syndrome and compare them with paired healthy children.

Material And Methods: After two-night habituation, all-night video-digital polygraphic recordings following recommendations of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology were performed in 15 abused child syndrome and 15 healthy controls.