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Parental history of sleepwalking increases children's risk for sleepwalking, sleep terrors

Parental history of sleepwalking was a significant predictor of sleepwalking and sleep terrors among children, according to study findings in JAMA Pediatrics.

“Since most studies on the familial aggregation of sleepwalking and sleep terrors were either conducted retrospectively or in a small sample of probands and none was longitudinal in nature, the aims of the present study were to assess the prevalence of sleepwalking and sleep terrors during childhood in a large retrospective longitudinal sample of children … and assess the degree of association between parental history of sleepwalking and presence of sleep terrors and somnambulism in children,” study researcher Dominique Petit, PhD, of the Center for Advanced Research in Sleep Medicine, in Montreal, Canada, and colleagues wrote.

Researchers assessed data from a large prospective longitudinal cohort of 1,940 children born in Quebec in 1997 and 1998. Study participants were followed from 1999 to 2011. Mothers and children completed self-administered questionnaires to determine presence of sleepwalking or sleep terrors from ages 1.5 and 2.5 years to 13 years.

Overall, 56.2% of the study cohort experienced sleep terrors. Prevalence of sleep terrors was highest at age 1.5 years with 34.4% of participants experiencing sleep terrors. This rate significantly decreased as children aged to 13.4% at age 5 years and 5.3% at age 13 years.

Overall, 29.1% of children experienced sleepwalking. Sleepwalking was most prevalent later in childhood at a rate of 13.4% at age 10 years that remained consistent up to age 13 years.

Children who experienced sleep terrors during early childhood were more likely to develop somnambulism later in childhood vs. children who did not experience sleep terrors (34.4% vs. 21.7%; OR = 1.89; 95% CI, 1.46-2.45).

Analysis indicated that children’s risk for sleepwalking increased as the number of parents with sleepwalking history increased. Children who had one parent with a history of sleepwalking were 3 times more likely to experience sleepwalking vs. children whose parents did not have a history of sleepwalking. Further, children with both parents with a history were 7 times more likely to experience sleepwalking.

Age of sleepwalking onset did not differ between children whose parents had a history of sleepwalking and those who did not, according to researchers.

“These findings point to a strong genetic influence on sleepwalking and, to a lesser degree, sleep terrors. This effect may occur through polymorphisms in the genes involved in slow-wave sleep generation or sleep depth,” Petit and colleagues wrote. “Parents who have been sleepwalkers in the past, particularly in cases where both parents have been sleepwalkers, can expect their children to sleepwalk and thus should prepare adequately.” – by Amanda Oldt

Disclosure: Petit reports no relevant financial disclosures. Please see the full study for a list of all other authors’ relevant financial disclosures.