Neurobehavioral Assessment of Pediatric Sleep (NAPS)

The NAPS study is designed to assess the neuropsychological, cognitive, and behavioral problems associated with sleep-disordered breathing and evaluate physiological, clinical, and epidemiologic risk factors for these problems. Young children from among the more than 8,000 children enrolled in Massachusetts in the Study of Early Infant Care Practices are screened and recruited as they approach their fifth birthday. Eligible children, who agree to participate, take part in two visits at the General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) at the Boston University Medical Center. At the first visit, they undergo a detailed neurobehavioral evaluation and a brief physical examination. Within one month of this first visit, they return to the GCRC and participate in an overnight sleep study. In addition to the primary objective of the study, this study will also provide an opportunity to determine normal values for polysomnographic measures (data collected during the sleep study) in 5-year-old children and to determine how common snoring and polysomnographic abnormalities are among these children.