Abstract
Sleep-related movement disorders (SRMD) are a group of conditions that involve simple, non-purposeful, and stereotyped movements that occur during sleep or sleep-wake transitions. In pediatric patients, these events may be concerning to parents and may be brought up during the screening for sleep disorders of the allergic child. Fortunately, the majority of these disorders are benign, require no treatment, and resolve spontaneously. Some sleep-related movement disorders, like restless legs syndrome and rhythmic movement disorder, are seen at sleep onset, while others, such as periodic limb movement disorder and benign sleep myoclonus of infancy, occur in the sleeping child. In some cases, like with bruxism, a condition may occur in either during sleep or while the child is awake. Normal variants, including hypnic jerks, hypnogogic foot tremor, and catathrenia, which may be confused with more concerning conditions, are also discussed. For each condition, diagnostic criteria and pediatric literature regarding the evaluation and treatment are reviewed.
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Ortiz, L.E., Cielo, C. (2019). Evaluation and Management of Movement Disorders in Children. In: Fishbein, A., Sheldon, S. (eds) Allergy and Sleep. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14738-9_10
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