0810 Sleep and Ferritin in Adolescent Females with and Without Asthma

Although children with asthma are known to have sleep disturbances, few studies have compared sleep quality between adolescents with and without asthma using both validated objective and subjective measures. Further, recent studies have suggested a relationship between low serum ferritin and restless sleep in youth, as well as a potential relationship between low serum ferritin and asthma. The aim of this study was to examine sleep quality and serum ferritin in adolescent females with and without asthma. Study participants were adolescent females (ages 12-17 years) with and without asthma. Objective sleep quality was measured with one-week of actigraphy (sleep efficiency [SE]); subjective sleep quality was measured with the pediatric PROMIS Sleep Disturbance (SD) and Sleep Related Impairment (SRI) item banks, and the Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire (PSQ). Finally, serum ferritin was collected at the end of the study week. Due to the small sample size, effect sizes (Cohen’s d) are presented rather than p-values (small effect 0.2, medium effect 0.5, large effect 0.8). Fourteen adolescents with asthma (mean age 14.3y, mean BMI 20.0, 71% White, 36% Hispanic) and 17 adolescents without asthma (mean age 13.8y, mean BMI 22.7, 71% White, 24% Hispanic) participated. There were no significant differences between groups for age or BMI. Compared to adolescents without asthma, adolescents with asthma had slightly lower actigraphic SE (89.4% vs. 90.8%, d=0.38), more symptoms of sleep disordered breathing (PSQ, 0.12 vs. 0.07, d=0.55), poorer subjective sleep quality (PROMIS SD, 56.1 vs. 54.4, d=0.47), and greater daytime sleepiness (PROMIS SRI, 51.6 vs. 46.1, d=0.89). Finally, adolescents with asthma had lower ferritin compared to adolescents without asthma (20.2 vs. 31.4, d=0.73). Although not significant, lower ferritin was modestly associated with poorer objective SE in adolescents with asthma (r=0.30), but not in adolescents without asthma (r=-0.08). Preliminary findings from this study highlight differences in both objective and subjective sleep quality between adolescent females with and without asthma. Additional research is needed with larger samples to further examine the relationship between asthma, sleep, and ferritin in adolescents. NIH R01HL119441