Sleep patterns, insomnia, and daytime sleepiness between Guangdong and Macau Chinese adolescents: a cross-cultural comparison study

Abstract

There was limited data on sleep patterns, insomnia, and daytime sleepiness in both south China adolescents and Macau adolescents. A school-based epidemiologic study (861 from Guangdong site and 618 from Macau) was conducted among high school adolescents from both sites. We found that Macau adolescents had slightly shorter nocturnal sleep duration during weekdays [mean (SD) = 7:24 (1:06) vs. 7:31 (0:35), p = 0.008] but longer nocturnal sleep duration during weekends [mean (SD) = 9:56 (1:40) vs. 8:48 (1:23)] than Guangdong adolescents. The rates of overall insomnia were 16.5% and 22.9% for Macau adolescents and Guangdong adolescents respectively (p < 0.001). Macau adolescents had higher scores in modified Epworth Sleepiness Scale than Guangdong adolescents. Multivariate analysis showed that study site was the most robust predictors for most of these variables of interest. Adolescents in Guangdong had shorter sleep duration, increased rates of insomnia, and habitual napping but were less sleepy than adolescents in Macau.

Keywords:

• adolescents
• cross-cultural differences
• sleep patterns
• insomnia
• daytime sleepiness

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the cooperation and participation of all the schools, teachers, and adolescents. The study is supported by a grant from Society Development Project of the Department of Science and Technology in Guangdong Province, China (No. 2006B36004002).