Sleep and depression in children and adolescents

There is considerable research evidence suggesting that sleep is biologically linked to mood disorders in adults. However, polysomographic and neuroendocrine studies in children and adolescents have not found consistent changes in sleep architecture paralleling adult major depression. This review provides a detailed description of sleep research that has been conducted in early-onset affective disorders, uncovers the potential limitations of the available data, and formulates future research directions in this important subject.