SLEEP 2011 Abstract Supplement

B. Clinical Sleep Science XI. Pediatrics
examine whether sleep latency is a physiological marker of the severity
of the disorder predicting its medical and psychiatric morbidity.
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A TEMPORAL RELATION BETWEEN PUBERTAL
MATURATION AND THE ADOLESCENT DECLINE IN DELTA
ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAM POWER
Campbell IG, de Bie E, Davis NM, Feinberg I
Psychiatry, UC Davis, Davis, CA, USA
Introduction: Electroencephalogram (EEG) power in the 1-4 Hz frequency
band during NREM sleep is high across childhood and then declines
steeply across adolescence. This reduction in slow wave activity
(SWA) is thought to reflect an adolescent brain maturation driven by
synaptic pruning. We previously reported that the SWA decline between
age 12 and 14 years was related to chronologic age rather than the rate
of pubertal maturation. However, we recognized that the timing of the
SWA decline might be linked to the timing of pubertal maturation. We
can now address this issue with longitudinal data covering ages 9 to 18
years.
Methods: Data are from 6 years of semiannual sleep EEG recordings
from two cohorts: C9 (n=31), initially age 9, and C12 (n=38), initially
age 12 years. SWA was measured as power in the 1-4 Hz band during
first 5 hours of NREM sleep. Tanner stage scores of pubertal maturation
were determined during a physician’s exam. Non linear mixed effect
analysis was used to fit a Gompertz curve to the sigmoidal SWA decline
and a logistic curve to the Tanner stage increase. Both analyses indicate
the age at which the curve is changing most rapidly.
Results: The age of most rapid SWA decline was related to the age of
most rapid pubertal increase. The SWA decline occurred 0.72 years earlier
(p