RESUMO
Objective To understand the sleeping time and the prevalence of sleep disturbances in children aged 3-12 years in Wuxi city.Methods Two thousand and three hundred seventy six children aged 3-12 years were investigated with questionnaires from June to September 2003.Results The average sleep time of 1 day in each age group was 11.61,10.91,10.68,10.27,9.81, 9.67,9.61,9.57,9.60,9.61 hours, respectively. The total prevalence of sleep disturbance was 25.5%. Among them, the sleep snoring prevalence was 7.8%; choke/gargling was 0.63%;mouth breathing was 6.6%;sleep apnea was 0.34%;rubbing teeth was 7.7%;sleep talking was 4.2%;somnambulate was 0.63%;enuresis was 1.4%;limber spasm was 3.2%;sleep inquietude was 6.2%。Conclusion Prevalence of sleep disturbance in children age 3-12 years was high and sleep time was shorter in Wuxi than that in other cities.