Sleep Disturbance Trajectories During Childhood and Early Adolescence Associated With Increased Suicide Risk

ObjectiveSleep disturbances have been linked to suicide risk, but few studies have explored these effects during the transition from childhood to adolescence.This study examined whether specific trajectories of sleep disturbance across childhood and early adolescence were associated with greater suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STB) for youth in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (ABCD Study ). MethodData from 11,864 participants in the ABCD study (data release 5.1) were used in the current study.Youth STB was assessed by the KSADS suicidality module.The Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children measured sleep disturbance.Latent Class Growth Analysis (LCGA) was used to identify sleep trajectories and Bayesian ordinal regression models were used to examine whether sleep trajectories were differentially associated with STB during the 2-, 3-, and 4-year follow-up. ResultsLCGA identified 3 latent sleep profiles (low-stable, high-decreasing, and moderate-increasing). Sleep profiles with greater disturbance including both high-decreasing (OR=1.75,95% CI [1.06, 2.89], p=0.030) and moderate-increasing (OR=2.34,95% CI [1.72, 3.14], p<.001), were linked to higher likelihood of more severe STB outcomes compared to the low-stable group. ConclusionThis study identified distinct developmental trajectories of sleep disturbance across childhood and early adolescence linked to STB.Specifically, early high sleep disturbances that improved and moderate disturbances that worsened over time were both associated with greater STB severity.Difficulty falling and staying asleep and excessive sleepiness were common in both patterns.These findings highlight the need to identify and address early and/or worsening sleep problems as a potential target for suicide prevention strategies.