The current study aimed to describe the pattern of sleep
disturbances and examine the relationship between sleep
disturbance, physical symptoms, emotional problems,
and functional disability in children and adolescents with
FGIDs. Consistent with rates of sleep disturbance
reported in previous studies of children with chronic
pain more generally [33], approximately half (45%) of
children and teens with FGIDs in this study were noted
to have a clinical elevation on at least one sleep subscale.
While the lack of a health comparison group is a limitation
of the current work, a review by Owens [34] concluded
that only about a quarter (25%) of children from
the general population experience some type of sleep
problem during their childhood [34]. Further, approximately
20% of the children and teens with FGIDs in the
current study were identified as experiencing problems
across more than one sleep domain. Problems related to
sleep onset and maintenance were most commonly
reported, and teens were noted to have a higher rate of
difficulty in this area as compared to children. However,
sleep problems were unrelated to any specific FGID diagnosis
in our study, appearing to be a more universal
phenomenon for children with chronic abdominal pain.