Associations Between Daytime Sleepiness, Psychological Symptoms, Headache, and Abdominal Pain in Schoolchildren.

Daytime sleepiness and different symptoms are common problems affecting health and well-being of schoolchildren. This population-based cohort study included 568 children who were followed from ages 10 to 15 years. Daytime sleepiness, headache, abdominal pain, and psychological symptoms (depression, irritability or bad temper, nervousness, anxiety, and dejection) were assessed by self-administered questionnaires. The prevalence of frequent daytime sleepiness was 13% at the ages of 10 and 12 years and increased significantly up to 24% at the age of 15 (p < .0001). Daytime sleepiness as well as psychological symptoms were positively associated with headache and abdominal pain from ages 10 to 15 years. Headache in girls at the ages of 10 predicted the occurrence of headache at the age of 15. School nurses and other professionals need to understand the importance of a holistic evaluation of sleep and different symptoms in children. There is also a need for interventions targeting several co-occurring symptoms.

Paediatric health-related quality of life instrument for primary school children: cross-cultural validation.

AIM: This article is a report of a study to validate the Finnish version of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory(TM) (PedsQL*) for children aged 8-12 years. BACKGROUND: Promoting and improving health and well-being of children are the global goals of primary-day health care. Sophisticated, internationally valid measurement tools are needed for planning, conducting and evaluating interventions to meet these challenges. The PedsQL is a promising, relatively new instrument developed in the United States to assess health-related quality of life (HRQL) in children and adolescents. METHOD: Content validity of the Finnish version of PedsQL 4.0 was assessed in 2004 during the translation process and tested by performing cognitive interviews with children aged 8-12 years (n = 7) and their parents (n = 5). Construct validity and reliability of the Finnish version of the PedsQL 4.0 were statistically tested on a sample of school children (n = 1097) and their parents (n = 999). FINDINGS: Cognitive interviews confirmed that the concepts, questions and response alternatives of the Finnish version are equivalent to the original PedsQL 4.0. The Finnish version was easy to understand and complete. The construct validity was good. Cronbach s alpha values were excellent for the total scale score (Child-Self Report alpha = 0.91 and Parent-Proxy Report alpha = 0.88) and good for sub- and summary scales (Child-Self Report alpha = 0.73-0.89 and Parent-Proxy Report alpha = 0.69-0.86). CONCLUSION: Results support previous research on validity and reliability of the PedsQL 4.0. The Finnish version of the PedsQL 4.0 demonstrated good validity and reliability in primary school children. Future research is needed to examine, construct and predictive validity of the Finnish version of the PedsQL 4.0.