Collaborative ECHO research led by Maristella Lucchini, PhD of Columbia University Irving Medical Center investigates changes in childhood sleep behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic. The researchers looked at data from 528 children across the United States and found that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, children went to bed later, woke up later, and took longer to fall asleep, but their overall time spent asleep did not change. The study also found that children in minority communities went to bed later, slept less, and took naps more frequently. This research, titled “Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s sleep habits: an ECHO study,” is published in Pediatric Research.
This study included children aged 4 to 12 from 14 ECHO cohorts across the United States. The ECHO Program’s Sleep Health of Children and Adolescents Questionnaire was used to evaluate children’s sleep habits before the pandemic began and at two time periods during the pandemic. The researchers also collected sociodemographic information from self-reports and medical records.
ECHO researchers found significant changes in children’s sleep habits, as well as differences in children’s sleep behaviors between racial/ethnic groups. However, parental knowledge of the importance of sleep might have contributed to children sleep health. Interviews with 38 participant caregivers revealed they prioritized routines to maintain their children’s amount of sleep but were generally more flexible about bedtimes.
“This is the first study investigating changes in childhood sleep habits in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic using data collected before and during the pandemic,” said Dr. Lucchini. “The results highlight potential targets for future interventions and support the need to examine and address the root causes of racial and ethnic sleep disparities in childhood.”
Using data from the same cohort of children, ECHO researchers are in the process of analyzing and publishing results on changes in diet, physical activity, and screen time during the COVID-19 pandemic.
September is Childhood Obesity Awareness Month. Obesity can affect children’s physical and psychosocial health and can lead to substantial health problems later in life, including type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Collaborative ECHO research led by Traci Bekelman, PhD, MPH of the University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus investigates how the COVID-19 pandemic affected children’s diet, physical activity, screen time, and sleep. The study found that children’s screen time increased significantly during the pandemic with Hispanic children and non-Hispanic Black children having the most noticeable increase in screen time. The amount of time children spent asleep also increased, but only among children whose sleep time was below the recommended range before the pandemic. The study didn’t find any significant increase in the amounts of sugary drinks and unhealthy snack foods children consumed in the full study sample, but it did find a more noticeable increase among Hispanic children and older children.
Children gained weight at a faster rate during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to previous years, according to a new study funded by the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program at the National Institutes of Health.