Use of hypnotics in children.

Background. - Sleep disorders are frequent in pre-school children and in th e French population, often leading to the prescription of hypnotics or seda tives. Therefore, this represents an important health problem in this popul ation. Patients and methods. - We studied the hypnotic consumption in children, ag ed between 1 month to 4 years (23 +/- 11.3 months), who complained of insom nia. parents completed 203 sleep questionnaires including information on th e hypnotics consumption of their offspring (112 boys and 91 girls). The que stionnaire was also related to the parent's sleep patterns and hypnotics co nsumption. Seventy percent of the sample had received medication, at least once before the evaluation, and at any age. A positive correlation between hypnotics consumption in mothers and children, particularly boys (odds-rati o = 4.8; 1.1-8.7) was found. Conclusion. - These data confirm the early exposition to hypnotics of child ren in the French population, and the existence of a familial pattern of co nsumption, mostly influenced by the mother. These data should permit the id entification of subgroups at risk for early exposition nad to encourage non -pharmacologic approaches in the treatment of insomnia in young children. ( C) 1999 Elsevier, Paris.