Comparison of Sleep and Attention Metrics Among Nurses Working Shifts on a Forward- vs Backward-Rotating Schedule.

Importance: The association of fast backward-rotating shift work (ie, anticlockwise sequence of afternoon, morning, and night shifts) with subjective and objective measures of sleep-wake quality, daytime attention, and tiredness of health care workers has not yet been established. Objective: To investigate the association of shift rotation direction with tiredness, sleepiness, and sustained attention among nurses working forward- and backward-rotating shifts. Design, Setting, and Participants: Data of this cohort study were collected from nurses working at 5 midsized Italian hospitals. The nurses had either a forward-rotating schedule (ie, morning to afternoon to night) and or a backward-rotating schedule (ie, afternoon to morning to night). The data were collected from July 2017 to February 2020. Data analysis was performed from May to October 2020. Exposures: Participants were working either forward- or backward-rotating schedules, in which the sequence of 3 shifts (morning, afternoon, and night) changed in a clockwise or anticlockwise direction. Main Outcomes and Measures: Sleep data were collected using the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Sustained attention was measured using the Psychomotor Vigilance Task. Tiredness was evaluated using the Tiredness Symptom Scale. Results: A total of 144 nurses (mean [SE] age, 41.3 [0.8] years; 92 women [63.9%]) participated in the study; 80 nurses had forward-rotating schedules, and 64 had backward-rotating schedules. Nurses with irregular sleep-wake patterns due to night shift work had poor sleep quality (46 [57.5%] in forward-rotating schedule group; 37 [57.8%] in backward-rotating schedule group). Nurses working backward-rotating shifts exhibited significantly greater sleepiness (F1,139 = 41.23; P < .001) and cognitive slowing (ie, longer median reaction times; F1,139 = 42.12; P < .001) than those working forward rotations. Importantly, these differences were not affected by age, years of employment, and quality of sleep. Of nurses working on a backward-rotating schedule, 60 (93.8%) reported elevated sleepiness (Karolinska Sleepiness Scale score ≥7) after the night shift. The median reaction time (F1,139 = 42.12; P < .001), 10% fastest reaction time (F1,139 = 97.07; P < .001), minor lapses (F1,139 = 46.29; P < .001), and reaction time distribution (F1,139 = 60.13; P < .001) of nurses on backward-rotating schedules indicated a lower level of vigilance, which is negatively associated with neurobehavioral performance. Conclusions and Relevance: In this study, both shift rotation models were negatively associated with health and cognitive performance. These findings suggest that forward shift rotation may be more beneficial than backward rotation for several measured performance attentional outcomes and sleepiness. Optimization of shift rotations should be implemented to decrease the combination of the negative outcomes associated with shift work and reduce the potential risk of medical errors in health care systems.

Nurses and Night Shifts: Poor Sleep Quality Exacerbates Psychomotor Performance.

In Europe, 40% of health-care employees are involved in shift work. The altered sleep/wake rhythm of night-shift nurses is also associated with deteriorated cognitive efficiency. In this study, we examine the effects of the night shift on psychomotor performance, sleepiness, and tiredness in a large sample of shift-working nurses and evaluated if poor sleep quality, sex, age, or years on the job could impact on a better adaptation to shift work. Eighty-six nurses with 8-h-rapidly-rotating-shifts were evaluated at the end of three shifts (morning/afternoon/night) for sleepiness and tiredness. Sleepiness, as measured by the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale, and tiredness, as measured by the Tiredness Symptoms Scale, were more pronounced after the night shift. These increases were paralleled by lower attentional performance on the psychomotor vigilance task (PVT) after the night shift. While sex, age, and years on the job did not affect PVT performance after the night shift, lower sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality, PSQI > 5) was associated with decreased performance. The high prevalence of altered sleep quality showed that nurses, and shift workers in general, are at risk for a poor sleep quality. The evaluation of sleep quality through PSQI could represent a rapid, inexpensive tool to assess health-care workers assigned to rotating night shifts or to evaluate nurses who coped poorly with night-shift work.

Not only a Problem of Fatigue and Sleepiness: Changes in Psychomotor Performance in Italian Nurses across 8-h Rapidly Rotating Shifts.

Although many studies have detailed the consequences of shift work in nurses concerning health, fatigue, sleepiness, or medical errors, no study has been carried out trying to disentangle the contribution of sleepiness and fatigue associated to shift work from the attentional performance. The aim of this pilot study is (A) to investigate the effects of an 8-h rapidly rotating shift on fatigue and sleepiness among staff nurses and (B) how these factors affect their psychomotor performance. Fourteen nurses were selected for a within-subject cross-sectional study according to this sequence of shifts: morning⁻afternoon⁻night, which were compared as function of tiredness, sleepiness, and performance at the Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT). Subsequently, a within-subject Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) evaluated if the observed differences between shifts persist when the contribution of sleepiness is controlled. Our results clearly indicate that night shifts are associated with significant greater sleepiness and tiredness, and worsened performance at the PVT. As hypothesized, ANCOVA showed that these differences disappear when the contribution of sleepiness is controlled. Results point to a lower psychomotor performance in night compared to day shifts that depends on sleepiness. Hence, interventions to minimize the consequences of the night shift should consider a reduction of sleepiness.

Different maturational changes of fast and slow sleep spindles in the first four years of life.

OBJECTIVE/BACKGROUND: Massive changes in brain morphology and function in the first years of life reveal a postero-anterior trajectory of cortical maturation accompanied by regional modifications of NREM sleep. One of the most sensible marker of this maturation process is represented by electroencephalographic (EEG) activity within the frequency range of sleep spindles. However, direct evidence that these changes actually reflect maturational modifications of fast and slow spindles still lacks. Our study aimed at answering the following questions: 1. Do cortical changes at 11.50 Hz frequency correspond to slow spindles? 2. Do fast and slow spindles show different age trajectories and different topographical distributions? 3. Do changes in peak frequency explain age changes of slow and fast spindles? PATIENTS/METHODS: We measured the antero-posterior changes of slow and fast spindles in the first 60 min of nightly sleep of 39 infants and children (0-48 mo.). RESULTS: We found that (A) changes of slow spindles from birth to childhood mostly affect frontal areas (B) variations of fast and slow spindles across age groups go in opposite direction, the latter progressively increasing across ages; (C) this process is not merely reducible to changes of spindle frequency. CONCLUSIONS: As a main finding, our cross-sectional study shows that the first form of mature spindle (i.e., corresponding to the adult phasic event of NREM sleep) is marked by the emergence of slow spindles on anterior regions around the age of 12 months.

Mapping changes in cortical activity during sleep in the first 4 years of life.

A coherent body of evidence supports the notion that sleep is a local and use-dependent process. Significant changes in brain morphology and function occur in the first years of life, revealing a postero-anterior trajectory of cortical maturation. On this basis, a recent study demonstrated that regional cortical maturation between early childhood and late adolescence is reflected in regional changes of sleep slow wave activity (SWA) during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. Our hypothesis is that changes of electroencephalogram (EEG) rhythms during sleep from birth to childhood are also mirrored by parallel regional changes in the EEG rhythms of sleep according to the assumption of a postero-anterior gradient in cortical maturation. We studied all-night EEG of 39 healthy, full-term, infants and children aged between 0 and 48 months, evaluating regional differences in NREM sleep. We confirmed the strictly local nature of sleep with frequency-specific regional differences. Specifically, we found a general shift of maxima of the upper alpha activity from occipital to prefrontal regions, expressed mainly by the ~11 Hz frequency. This shift corresponds to a postero-anterior trajectory of the so-called 'slow spindles'. The theta and alpha EEG activity of the frontal cortex exhibits a clear, positive, correlation with age. We conclude that specific local differences during NREM sleep, parallel cortical maturation also in the first 4 years of life.

Sleep in children with neurodevelopmental disabilities.

This review describes recent research in pediatric sleep disorders associated with neurodevelopmental disabilities (NDDs) and their treatment. NDDs affect more than 2% of the general population and represent more than 35% of the total cases of children referred to a neuropsychiatric center for sleep problems. Specific clinical and therapeutic aspects of sleep disorders associated with Down syndrome, Fragile X syndrome, Prader-Willi syndrome, Angelman syndrome, Rett syndrome, Smith-Magenis syndrome, cerebral palsy, and autism spectrum disorders are described. Furthermore, the drugs commonly used for sleep disorders in children with NDDs are described. The review clearly highlighted that children with NDDs are often affected by sleep disorders that require appropriate clinical and therapeutic approach to improve quality of life in both patients and families.

Sleep architecture in infants with spinal muscular atrophy type 1.

OBJECTIVE: Few reports on sleep patterns of patients with spinal muscular atrophy type 1 (SMA1) have been published and none on sleep microstructure. The aim of this study was to analyze sleep architecture and microstructure in a group of infants with SMA1, compared with age- and sex-matched controls. METHODS: Twelve SMA1 patients (six males, mean age 5.9 months) and 10 controls (five males, mean age 4.8 months) underwent full polysomnography to evaluate their sleep architecture and microstructure by means of the cyclic alternating pattern (CAP). RESULTS: Compared with control children, SMA1 patients showed increased sleep latency and apnea/hypopnea index. CAP analysis revealed a significant increase in the percentage of A1 CAP subtypes, a reduction of that of A3 subtypes and of A2 and A3 indexes (number/h), indicating a dysfunction of the arousal system in these patients. CONCLUSION: The results indicate the presence of an abnormality of sleep microstructure in SMA1 patients, characterized by a reduction of A2 and A3 CAP subtypes. We hypothesize that SMA1 patients have reduced arousability during non-rapid eye movement sleep, which could be interpreted as additional evidence of central nervous system involvement in this disease.

Sleep cyclic alternating pattern and cognition in children: a review.

Several studies have been recently focused on the relationship between sleep cyclic alternating pattern (CAP) and daytime cognitive performance, supporting the idea that the CAP slow components may play a role in sleep-related cognitive processes. Based on the results of these reports, it can be hypothesized that the analysis of CAP might be helpful in characterizing sleep microstructure patterns of different phenotypes of intellectual disability and a series of studies has been carried out that are reviewed in this paper. First the studies exploring the correlations between CAP and cognitive performance in normal adults and children are described; then, those analyzing the correlation between CAP and cognitive patterns of several developmental conditions with neurocognitive dysfunction (with or without mental retardation) are reported in detail in order to achieve a unitary view of the role of CAP in these conditions that allows to detect a particular "sleep microstructure phenotype" of children with neurologic/neuropsychiatric disorders.

Comorbidities of sleep disorders in childhood and adolescence: focus on migraine.

The correlation and/or comorbidity between sleep disorders and headache has been reported in numerous studies, but the exact nature of the association between headache, disordered sleep, and underlying mechanisms remains poorly understood. The bidirectional association between sleep and headache is mediated by a temporal link (headache occurs during sleep, after sleep, and in relationship with sleep stages), by a quantitative relationship (excess, lack, bad quality, short duration of sleep may trigger headache), and by a reciprocal connection (headache may cause sleep disruption and may be associated with several sleep disturbances). This association is most evident for primary headache disorders, especially in childhood. A congenital alteration of neurotransmitter pathways (serotoninergic and dopaminergic) might predispose individuals to both disorders, presenting as sleep-wake rhythm disorder in infancy or as headache disorder later in childhood, as result of this neurotransmitter imbalance. Clinicians should be aware that a complete clinical evaluation of childhood headache includes a careful sleep history, taking into account that the treatment of sleep disturbances could lead to an improvement of headache symptoms and vice versa.

Time structure of leg movement activity during sleep in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and effects of levodopa.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the leg movement (LM) time structure (periodicity and night distribution) during sleep in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and their eventual changes after treatment with levodopa (L-DOPA). SUBJECTS AND METHODS: One group of ADHD patients (n=18) and another group of normal controls (n=17) were recruited; those with ADHD were randomized to L-DOPA or placebo therapy. At baseline (both groups) and after therapy (only patients) subjects underwent full-night polysomnography (PSG) and the leg motor pattern was evaluated with advanced tools of analysis particularly able to detect and describe LM time structure (periodicity and distribution). RESULTS: With respect to controls ADHD children showed prolonged sleep latency, increased number of stage shifts, awakenings, and percentage of sleep stage 1. Arousal index was higher in ADHD and also their PLMS index was slightly but considerably higher than controls; however, their periodicity was low and not different from controls. Only sleep latency was significantly reduced by L-DOPA treatment with all the other parameters (sleep scoring and LM activity) remaining substantially unmodified. CONCLUSIONS: LMs during sleep in children with ADHD do not show a highly periodic character and are not considerably modified by L-DOPA treatment; this finding has potential implications for drug treatment that might target the most prominent changes observed in our study including arousals and sleep structure disruption.

The role of NREM sleep instability in child cognitive performance.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: Based on recent reports of the involvement of cyclic alternating pattern (CAP) in cognitive functioning in adults, we investigated the association between CAP parameters and cognitive performance in healthy children. DESIGN: Polysomnographic assessment and standardized neurocognitive testing in healthy children. SETTINGS: Sleep laboratory. PARTICIPANTS: Forty-two children aged 7.6 ± 2.7 years, with an even distribution of body mass percentile (58.5 ± 25.5) and SES reflective of national norms. MEASUREMENTS: Analysis of sleep macrostructure following the R&K criteria and of cyclic alternating pattern (CAP). The neurocognitive tests were the Stanford Binet Intelligence Scale (5(th) edition) and a Neuropsychological Developmental Assessment (NEPSY) RESULTS: Fluid reasoning ability was positively associated with CAP rate, particularly during SWS and with A1 total index and A1 index in SWS. Regression analysis, controlling for age and SES, showed that CAP rate in SWS and A1 index in SWS were significant predictors of nonverbal fluid reasoning, explaining 24% and 22% of the variance in test scores, respectively. CONCLUSION: This study shows that CAP analysis provides important insights on the role of EEG slow oscillations (CAP A1) in cognitive performance. Children with higher cognitive efficiency showed an increase of phase A1 in total sleep and in SWS.

A new quantitative automatic method for the measurement of non-rapid eye movement sleep electroencephalographic amplitude variability.

The aim of this study was to arrange an automatic quantitative measure of the electroencephalographic (EEG) signal amplitude variability during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, correlated with the visually extracted cyclic alternating pattern (CAP) parameters. Ninety-eight polysomnographic EEG recordings of normal controls were used. A new algorithm based on the analysis of the EEG amplitude variability during NREM sleep was designed and applied to all recordings, which were also scored visually for CAP. All measurements obtained with the new algorithm correlated positively with corresponding CAP parameters. In particular, total CAP time correlated with total NREM variability time (r = 0.596; P < 1E-07), light sleep CAP time with light sleep variability time (r = 0.597; P < 1E-07) and slow wave sleep CAP time with slow wave sleep variability time (r = 0.809; P < 1E-07). Only the duration of CAP A phases showed a low correlation with the duration of variability events. Finally, the age-related modifications of CAP time and of NREM variability time were found to be very similar. The new method for the automatic analysis of NREM sleep amplitude variability presented here correlates significantly with visual CAP parameters; its application requires a minimum work time, compared to CAP analysis, and might be used in large studies involving numerous recordings in which NREM sleep EEG amplitude variability needs to be assessed.

Prader-Willi syndrome: sorting out the relationships between obesity, hypersomnia, and sleep apnea.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Although several studies in the last years have evaluated obesity, obstructive sleep apnea (OSAS), and excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) in patients with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS), their pathophysiologies and interactions and the role of treatment with growth hormone are not completely understood. The present review analyzes the contributing role of obesity, OSAS, and sleep structure abnormalities in determining the EDS and the role of specific treatment in improving the clinical outcome. RECENT FINDINGS: The studies on sleep structure of PWS patients show abnormalities of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and a decrease in non-REM sleep instability, corroborating the hypothesis of the presence of a primary disorder of vigilance and the similarities with narcolepsy. These sleep alterations might also be linked to the action of mediators of inflammation (i.e. adiponectin or cytokines) determined by obesity. Obesity and hypothalamic dysfunction could be responsible for the primary abnormalities of ventilation during sleep that, in turn, might contribute to EDS. Although EDS seems to resemble narcolepsy, PWS patients do not present the other typical symptoms of narcolepsy. SUMMARY: The most consistent hypothesis for linking the three different symptoms of PWS is a primary central hypothalamic dysfunction. Further research is needed to evaluate the contribution of the upper airway resistance syndrome in the pathogenesis of EDS, the role of the alterations of sleep microstructure, the relationships between PWS and narcoleptic phenotype, the involvement of orexin/hypocretin, and the effects of drugs acting on REM sleep and/or wakefulness.

Cyclic alternating pattern: A window into pediatric sleep.

Cyclic alternating pattern (CAP) has now been studied in different age groups of normal infants and children, and it is clear that it shows dramatic changes with age. In this review we first focus on the important age-related changes of CAP from birth to peripubertal age and, subsequently, we describe the numerous studies on CAP in developmental clinical conditions such as pediatric sleep disordered breathing, disorders of arousal (sleep walking and sleep terror), pediatric narcolepsy, learning disabilities with mental retardation (fragile-X syndrome, Down syndrome, autistic spectrum disorder, Prader-Willi syndrome) or without (dyslexia, Asperger syndrome, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder). CAP rate is almost always decreased in these conditions with the exception of the disorders of arousal and some cases of sleep apnea. Another constant result is the reduction of A1 subtypes, probably in relationship with the degree of cognitive impairment. The analysis of CAP in pediatric sleep allows a better understanding of the underlying neurophysiological mechanisms of sleep disturbance. CAP can be considered as a window into pediatric sleep, allowing a new vision on how the sleeping brain is influenced by a specific pathology or how sleep protecting mechanisms try to counteract internal or external disturbing events.

Reduced NREM sleep instability in benign childhood epilepsy with centro-temporal spikes.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze sleep architecture and NREM sleep instability by means of the cyclic alternating pattern (CAP) in children with benign epilepsy with rolandic spikes (BERS). METHODS: Ten children with BERS, drug free at the time of the study and 10 age-matched normal controls were included in this study. Sleep was visually scored for sleep architecture and CAP using standard criteria. RESULTS: Sleep architecture in BERS showed only few significant differences vs. controls with a reduction of total sleep time, sleep efficiency, and REM sleep percentage. CAP analysis revealed several significant differences: reduced total CAP rate, mainly in sleep stage 2, and reduced EEG slow oscillations and arousals during stages N1 and N2. CONCLUSIONS: Sleep architecture is not importantly affected in BERS but CAP analysis reveals a decrease of NREM instability, mainly in sleep stage 2. Since there is a spindle-related spike activation in BERS, we speculate that the decrease of CAP and of EEG slow oscillations and arousals might be linked with the inhibitory action of spindling activity and spikes on arousals. SIGNIFICANCE: CAP analysis discloses sleep structure abnormalities in children with BERS not shown by the classical sleep scoring. Spike activity and CAP A1 subtypes seem to be mutually exclusive probably because centro-temporal spikes disturb the physiological synchronization mechanisms needed for the generation of slow-wave components of CAP.

Sleep disorders in children.

INTRODUCTION: Sleep disorders may affect between 20% and 30% of young children, and include problems getting to sleep (dyssomnias), or undesirable phenomena during sleep (parasomnias), such as sleep terrors and sleepwalking. Children with physical or learning disabilities are at increased risk of sleep disorders. METHODS AND OUTCOMES: We conducted a systematic review and aimed to answer the following clinical questions: What are the effects of treatments for dyssomnias in children? What are the effects of treatments for parasomnias in children? We searched: Medline, Embase, The Cochrane Library, and other important databases up to September 2009 (Clinical Evidence reviews are updated periodically, please check our website for the most up-to-date version of this review). We included harms alerts from relevant organisations such as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). RESULTS: We found 28 systematic reviews, RCTs, or observational studies that met our inclusion criteria. We performed a GRADE evaluation of the quality of evidence for interventions. CONCLUSIONS: In this systematic review we present information relating to the effectiveness and safety of the following interventions: antihistamines; behavioural therapy plus antihistamines, plus benzodiazepines, or plus chloral and derivatives; benzodiazepines alone; exercise; extinction and graduated extinction; 5-hydroxytryptophan; light therapy; melatonin; safety/protective interventions for parasomnias; scheduled waking (for parasomnias); sleep hygiene; and sleep restriction.

Sleep classification according to AASM and Rechtschaffen and Kales: effects on sleep scoring parameters of children and adolescents.

Recently, the new American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) rules and the old Rechtschaffen and Kales (R&K) criteria for sleep scoring have been shown to produce significantly different results in adults. The aim of this study was to describe in detail such differences in a group of normal children. Polysomnographic recordings from 45 healthy children (18 females and 27 males) aged between 3 and 16 years were scored following both systems and the results compared. Several significant differences between the two scoring systems were found: N1 (AASM) was significantly higher than S1 (R&K) while Stages N2 and R (AASM) were significantly smaller than S2 and rapid eye movement (R&K). The Kendall Tau correlation coefficient revealed a relatively low concordance between the two systems for the scoring of number of stage shifts per hour, minutes and percentage of Stage N1/S1, and of a percentage of Stage S2/N2. The significant differences between R&K and AASM scoring systems suggest taking some caution in adopting the new scoring criteria in children; these might be shown to be potentially useful if careful selection of the appropriate indicators derived from this new method is carried out, such as the percentage of N1 and the number of stage shifts, which are measures very sensitive to the occurrence of arousals in the new AASM system.

Sleep and headaches during adolescence.

Adolescence is a complex period of life with hormonal, physiologic, and psychological modifications that affect headache and sleep. Because of the well-documented association between sleep and headache, it is reasonable to expect that changes in sleep would be reflected in the onset, duration, and frequency of headache. The sleep structure changes and the presence of poor sleep hygiene in adolescence could be responsible for the appearance of headache in adolescents or could contribute to the increased chronicity of headaches. It is essential in adolescence to perform a careful analysis of sleep habits, patterns, and disturbances to develop adequate treatment methods for both sleep and headache.

Sleep spindle activity is correlated with reading abilities in developmental dyslexia.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: To analyze sleep architecture of children with dyslexia, by means of conventional parameters and EEG spectral analysis and to correlate sleep parameters and EEG spectra with neuropsychological measures. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study involving validated sleep questionnaires, neuropsychological scales, and polysomnographic recordings. SETTING: Sleep laboratory in academic center. PARTICIPANTS: Sixteen subjects with developmental dyslexia (mean age 10.8 years) and 11 normally reading children (mean age 10.1 years). All the subjects underwent overnight polysomnographic recording; EEG power spectra were computed from the Cz derivation and spindle density was calculated during sleep stages N2. INTERVENTION: N/A. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: Dyslexic children showed an increase in power of frequency bands between 0.5-3 Hz and 11-12 Hz in stage N2 and between 0.5-1 Hz in stage N3; they also showed significantly increased spindle density during N2. The power of the sigma band in N2 was positively correlated with the Word reading and MT reading tests; similarly, spindle density was significantly correlated with the Word reading test. The increased spindle activity and EEG sigma power in dyslexic subjects were found to be correlated with the degree of dyslexic impairment. CONCLUSIONS: The correlation found between sleep spindle activity and reading abilities in developmental dyslexia supports the hypothesis of a role for NREM sleep and spindles in sleep-related neurocognitive processing.

All-night EEG power spectral analysis of the cyclic alternating pattern at different ages.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze in detail the frequency content of the different EEG components of the Cyclic Alternating Pattern (CAP) in the whole sleep of pre-school and school age children compared to normal young adults. METHODS: Fourteen pre-school age and 18 school age children and 16 adults were included in this study. Each participant underwent a polysomnographic overnight recording, after an adaptation night; sleep stages and CAP were scored following standard criteria. Average spectra were obtained for each CAP condition from the signal recorded from C3/A2 or C4/A1, separately in sleep stage 2 and slow-wave sleep (SWS), for each subject. RESULTS: The analysis of the relative power density in the three groups showed that in sleep stage 2 and in SWS, CAP A1, A2, A3 subtypes had a significantly higher power in all frequency ranges in pre-school children than in adults, while school children differed mainly for the lower frequencies (<7 Hz). For non-CAP, pre-school and school children differed from adults at almost all frequencies analyzed. Generally, A1, A2 and A3 showed clear spectral differences in the three different groups of subjects with pre-school age children showing slightly less evident differences. CONCLUSIONS: CAP subtypes are characterized by clearly different spectra at different ages and also the same subtype shows a different power spectrum, during sleep stage 2 or SWS. This study shows that pre-school children have a different structure of sleep, especially from the microstructural (CAP) point of view: the differences are evident for all the CAP components and for non-CAP in almost all the frequency bands. This finding might be associated to the age-related delta decline in the 0-3 Hz frequency reported in children of the same age. SIGNIFICANCE: Our data seem to provide information not available before and useful for the understanding of the impact of CAP on the sleep EEG neurophysiological dynamics at different ages. This type of information is crucial for a more adequate interpretation of data provided by a growing number of studies analyzing CAP in groups of pediatric patients.