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. 2011 Aug 1;34(8):987-95.
doi: 10.5665/SLEEP.1148.

Associations between sleep-wake consolidation and language development in early childhood: a longitudinal twin study

Ginette Dionne  1 , Evelyne Touchette, Nadine Forget-Dubois, Dominique Petit, Richard E Tremblay, Jacques Y Montplaisir, Michel Boivin
Affiliations

Associations between sleep-wake consolidation and language development in early childhood: a longitudinal twin study

Ginette Dionne et al. Sleep. .

Abstract

Study objectives: The objectives were (1) to assess associations between sleep consolidation at 6, 18 and 30 months and language skills at 18, 30, and 60 months; and (2) to investigate the genetic/environmental etiology of these associations.

Design: Longitudinal study of a population-based twin cohort.

Participants: 1029 twins from the Quebec Newborn Twin Study.

Measurements and results: Sleep consolidation was derived from parental reports of day/night consecutive sleeping durations. Language skills were assessed with the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory at 18 and 30 months and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test at 60 months. The day/night sleep ratio decreased significantly from 6 to 30 months. The 6- and 18-month ratios were negatively correlated with subsequent language skills. Children with language delays at 60 months had less mature sleep consolidation at both 6 and 18 months than children without delays and those with transient early delays. Genetic and regression analyses revealed that the sleep ratio at 6 months was highly heritable (64%) and predicted 18-month (B = -0.06) and 30-month language (B = -0.11) mainly through additive genetic influences (R(Gs) = 0.32 and 0.33, respectively). By contrast, the sleep ratio at 18 months was mainly due to shared environment influences (58%) and predicted 60-month language (B = -0.08) through shared environment influences (R(Cs) = 0.24).

Conclusions: Poor sleep consolidation during the first 2 years of life may be a risk factor for language learning, whereas good sleep consolidation may foster language learning through successive genetic and environmental influences.

Keywords: Sleep-wake consolidation; early childhood; genetics; language.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Path diagram depicting the genetic and environmental model of the correlation between sleep consolidation and language. A, C, and E refer to additive genetic, shared environmental, and nonshared environmental influences, respectively. RG, RC, and RE refer to the genetic, shared environmental, and nonshared environmental correlations derived from covariance estimates.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Changes in means and standard deviations (SD) for the ratio of consecutive daytime sleep/consecutive nighttime sleep (CDS/CNS) between 6, 18 and 30 months of age adjusted for gestation duration; F2,533 = 280.27, P < 0.001. N = 977 at 6 months, 881 at 18 months, and 797 at 30 months.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Longitudinal language groups as a function of the ratio of consecutive daytime sleep/consecutive nighttime sleep (CDS/CNS) at 6 and 18 months. Children with persistent or late language delays (■ N = 140) differed significantly from children without language delays (☐ N = 385) and from children with transient delays (formula image N = 93) on both the 6- and 18-month sleep ratio. Sleep ratio was adjusted for gestation duration corrected age.
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