By IANS
New York : A new study says children from low income families may face more sleep problems than those from middle-class families although the exact reasons for those differences aren't clear.
The study, presented Monday in Minneapolis at Sleep 2007, the 21st annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS), compared the sleep pattern of 32 boys and 32 girls from low-income families.
The children were on an average about 7 years old and didn't have chronic health problems. Parents completed a 35-item survey about their children's sleep patterns.
Survey topics included the child's bedtime resistance, delays in falling asleep, waking up during the night, breathing problems during sleep and daytime sleepiness, reported online edition of health magazine WebMD.
Researchers led by Sanjeev Kothare of St. Christopher's Hospital for Children in Philadelphia compared the survey's results to data from a previous study of children from middle-class families.
The researchers said children from low-income families had worse sleeping patterns than those from middle-class families. They added that the exact reasons for the differences aren't clear.
According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM), preschool children need 11-13 hours of sleep and school-aged children need 10-11 hours of sleep.