Sleep Problems in Paediatric Palliative Care: Insights from the First International Consensus
Dr. Anna Mercante
Neuropsychiatrist specializing in paediatric sleep medicine, narcolepsy, and neurodevelopmental disorders. She earned her medical degree from the University of Padua, completed her residency with a thesis on proteomics in hypersomnolence disorders, and is now a PhD candidate at the University of Bologna. Her work emphasizes sleep health awareness and research in children and young adults with rare diseases. More on Orchid.
Sleep Problems in Paediatric Palliative Care
Sleep problems constitute a common and heterogeneous complaint in paediatric palliative care (PPC), where they often contribute to disease morbidity and cause additional distress to children and their families already facing the burden of life-threatening and life-limiting conditions. Clinical evidence is lacking despite the significant impact of sleep problems in this population. Indeed, general paediatric sleep recommendations need to be revised to address the unique challenges of the PPC dimension in terms of disease variability, duration, comorbidities, complexity of needs, and particular features of sleep problems related to hospice care. Therefore, we initiated an international project aimed at establishing a multidisciplinary consensus. A two-round Delphi approach was adopted to develop recommendations based on expert opinion on diagnosing, assessing, monitoring, and treating sleep problems in PPC.
This study addresses the need to personalize sleep medicine’s approach to the palliative care setting and its peculiarities. It provides the first international consensus on sleep problems in PPC and highlights the urgent need for global guidance to improve sleep-related distress in these vulnerable patients and their caregivers. Our findings represent a crucial milestone that will enable the development of guidelines in the near future.
Recent publications from ESRSÂ members
- Biscarini et al (2024), The actigraphic evaluation of daytime sleep in central disorders of hypersomnolence:
comparison with polysomnography. Sleep - Palagini et al (2024), Insomnia and circadian rhythms dysregulation in people who have attempted suicide: correlations with markers of inflammation and suicidal lethality. World J Biol Psychiatry.
- Doghman et al (2024), Factors predictive of extensive use of CPAP treatment in obstructive sleep apnoea. Sleep Breath
- Mogavero et al (2024). Sex-based disparities in dopamine agonist response in patients with restless legs syndrome. J Sleep Res.
- Breda et al (2024). A cross-sectional study on the relationship between infant sleep, temperament and bedtime practices. J Clin Sleep Med
- DI Milia et al (2024), The relationship between shift work, sleep, and work hours on wellbeing.Ind Health.