TY - JOUR TI - Insomnia symptoms, objective sleep duration and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal activity in children AU - Fernandez-Mendoza, J. AU - Vgontzas, A.N. AU - Calhoun, S.L. AU - Vgontzas, A. AU - Tsaoussoglou, M. AU - Gaines, J. AU - Liao, D. AU - Chrousos, G.P. AU - Bixler, E.O. JO - European Journal of Clinical Investigation PY - 2008 VL - 44 TODO - 5 SP - 493-500 PB - Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd SN - 0014-2972, 1365-2362 TODO - 10.1111/eci.12263 TODO - hydrocortisone; hydrocortisone, anxiety; apnea hypopnea index; article; body mass; child; childhood disease; cohort analysis; depression; disease association; female; human; hypothalamus hypophysis adrenal system; insomnia; major clinical study; male; morbidity; named inventories, questionnaires and rating scales; Pediatric Behavior Scale; polysomnography; priority journal; saliva analysis; sleep time; waist circumference; chemistry; hypophysis adrenal system; hypothalamus hypophysis system; insomnia; metabolism; pathophysiology; physiology; preschool child; saliva, Child; Child, Preschool; Cohort Studies; Female; Humans; Hydrocortisone; Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System; Male; Pituitary-Adrenal System; Polysomnography; Saliva; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders TODO - Background: Insomnia symptoms are the most common parent-reported sleep complaints in children; however, little is known about the pathophysiology of childhood insomnia symptoms, including their association with hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activation. The objective of this study is to examine the association between parent-reported insomnia symptoms, objective short sleep duration and cortisol levels in a population-based sample of school-aged children. Design: A sample of 327 children from the Penn State Child Cohort (5-12 years old) underwent 9-h overnight polysomnography and provided evening and morning saliva samples to assay for cortisol. Objective short sleep duration was defined based on the median total sleep time (i.e., < 7·7 h). Parent-reported insomnia symptoms of difficulty initiating and/or maintaining sleep were ascertained with the Pediatric Behavior Scale. Results: Children with parent-reported insomnia symptoms and objective short sleep duration showed significantly increased evening (0·33 ± 0·03 μg/dL) and morning (1·38 ± 0·08 μg/dL) cortisol levels. In contrast, children with parent-reported insomnia symptoms and 'normal' sleep duration showed similar evening and morning cortisol levels (0·23 ± 0·03 μg/dL and 1·13 ± 0·08 μg/dL) compared with controls with 'normal' (0·28 ± 0·02 μg/dL and 1·10 ± 0·04 μg/dL) or short (0·28 ± 0·02 μg/dL and 1·13 ± 0·04 μg/dL) sleep duration. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that insomnia symptoms with short sleep duration in children may be related to 24-h basal or responsive physiological hyperarousal. Future studies should explore the association of insomnia symptoms with short sleep duration with physical and mental health morbidity. © 2014 Stichting European Society for Clinical Investigation Journal Foundation. ER -