INSOMNIA IN KIDS LINKED TO LATER DRUG USE

Young children with sleep problems are more likely to grow up into teens who drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes and use illegal drugs, a new study has found.

Researchers have already made the connection with sleep problems and alcohol abuse in grownups, but this is the first study to draw the link between children who have trouble sleeping and the later use of alcohol and drugs.

Maria Wong, a researcher in the psychiatry department at the University of Michigan, looked at data from a study of 275 boys that began 16 years ago.  When the boys were aged three to five, their mothers were asked if their child had had trouble sleeping in the past six months, or if he seemed overtired.

When the boys were adolescents, aged 12 to 14, they answered questions about how much they smoked, drank alcohol and used illegal drugs.  ( They were guaranteed anonymity.  ) It turned out that the boys who had had trouble sleeping as toddlers were twice as likely to smoke cigarettes or marijuana, drink alcohol or use other drugs early in their adolescence.

"Not all of the children with sleep problems do, but half do.  So it is a significant risk factor, and it is a robust risk factor," Dr.  Wong said in an interview.  Her study is published in today's edition of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

Previous research has shown that adults who suffer from insomnia are more likely to start drinking excessively or abuse other drugs, and reformed alcoholics are more likely to relapse if they have trouble sleeping.

Kids aged 12 to 14 generally don't abuse alcohol and drugs.  But there is strong evidence that kids who start drinking and smoking at an early age are more likely to develop serious addiction problems as adults, says Dr.  Wong.

She says parents should pay attention to their children's sleep problems, but not to fret about them too much.  Her two-year-old, William, has trouble getting to sleep and sometimes wakes up several times during the night.  She is trying to develop a more relaxing bedtime routine for him, which means cutting out television late in the evening before he goes to bed.

"We think that parents should pay attention to complaints about insomnia and overtiredness, and discuss them with their pediatricians and other health-care providers.  Pay attention to sleep hygiene, have a regular sleep schedule and engage in relaxing activities before sleep," she says.

When the study began, researchers weren't that interested in sleep, but were looking for evidence about how having an alcoholic parent affected children.  Two-thirds of the boys in the study had at least one parent who was an alcoholic.  The rest were from the same low-income neighbourhood.

The link between sleep problems and using alcohol and drugs was strong, even when the researchers accounted for the many other factors, including behavioural problems, or having an alcoholic parent, that might explain why the teenagers had started drinking and smoking so early.  What the researchers don't know, however, is why there is a link.

"We think it might be some kind of neurobiological dysfunction that underlines both sleep problems and alcohol abuse," says Dr.  Wong.  She is now applying for research grants to see if this is the case.

She also sees hope for preventing alcohol and drug abuse.

"Sleep problems are treatable.  If toddlers that have sleep problems get treated early on, it might prevent substance abuse."