Epidemiology

Confusional arousals: frequent in children aged <5 years and less common in older childhood (the prevalence of confusional arousals in adults is about 4%).[13] A strong familial pattern exists for idiopathic confusional arousals.

Sleepwalking: the prevalence among children is around 5%, but this is likely to be an underestimate.[14]​ Sleepwalking can occur as soon as the child is able to walk but is most common in children between the ages of 4 and 8 years.[13][15]​ With advancing age, especially after puberty, sleepwalking decreases significantly.[16][17]​ Eating during sleepwalking episodes is more commonly seen in women. Sleepwalking occurs more often in girls during childhood but more often in men during adulthood.[12]

Sleep terrors: estimated to occur in 1% to 6.5% of children aged 1-12 years. The peak incidence is 5-7 years, with most children outgrowing the disorder by late adolescence.[18]

Nightmares: prevalence of nightmares during childhood is approximately 1% to 5%. From 1.3% to 3.9% of parents report that their preschool children have nightmares 'often' or 'always'. Prevalence increases to 5.2% in children aged 5-15 years.[12] Up to 75% of the population can remember at least one nightmare in the course of their childhood. In longitudinal samples, the prevalence of frequent nightmares in children varied from 2.5% (when calculated using parental estimates) to 3.5% (calculated using the children's self-estimates).[19]

Recurrent isolated sleep paralysis: one study from Mexico reviewing the prevalence and characteristics of sleep paralysis in adolescents revealed a mean age of 15.9 years and a prevalence rate of 27.6%.[20]

Rapid eye movement sleep behaviour disorder (RBD): prevalence is around 1% to 2% in middle to older-aged individuals.[12] Once thought to occur exclusively in adults, RBD has now been reported in children and adolescents.[21][22] It is very rare in children, but its presence may be associated with narcolepsy, epilepsy, and the use of antidepressant medications.[21][22][23][24][25] The overall prevalence of violent behaviours during sleep in the general population is estimated at 2% (people aged between 15 and 100 years), and of these behaviours, about 25% were probably due to RBD, giving an overall prevalence of 0.5% for the disorder.[26]

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