Children and teens from racial and ethnic minority groups are disproportionately affected by persistent insomnia symptoms that begin in childhood and continue through young adulthood, a team led by Penn State researchers found.
Specifically, Black children were 2.6 times more likely to experience these long-term sleep problems compared to white children. The findings underscore the need to identify insomnia symptoms early and intervene with age-appropriate treatment.
Insomnia isn’t like childhood sleep terrors or sleepwalking. It won’t go away with puberty and maturation for many children,” Julio Fernandez-Mendoza, professor at Penn State College of Medicine, said.
Childhood-onset insomnia confers a greater risk for health problems because of the chronic exposure to sleeplessness, he explained. Those risks may be higher for Black and Hispanic/Latino children compared to non-Hispanic white children because disparities in sleep patterns begin at a young age.
See “Disparities in sleep health and insomnia may begin at a young age, according to researchers” (April 8, 2024)
