Association between Nocturnal Enuresis and Decreased Body Height in Chinese School Children

Purpose: Nocturnal enuresis (NE) occurs in 4-18% of children aged ≥5 years, and is associated with sleep disorders, behavioral problems and impaired intellectual development. Whether NE is associated with delayed physical development remains unknown. The present work aimed to assess NE’s association with height in children. Methods: : The current cross-sectional trial utilized data generated in a large-sample sleep survey. The final analysis included 21,258 children. Demographic and clinical data, including the frequency of bed-wetting, height and weight, were extracted from the database. Multivariate linear regression analysis, after adjustment for sex, age, ethnicity, sleep time, activity level, method of delivery and maternal age, was carried out to analyze the difference in height between children with NE and healthy controls for various age groups (5–6, 7–8, 9–10 and 11–12 years old). Factors independently predicting NE were identified by multivariable analysis. Results: : The NE group had reduced height, higher proportion of males, lower activity level, lower household income and greater use of light during sleep in comparison with the control group. Height difference between NE cases and healthy controls increased with age, reaching 2-3 cm at 11-12 years of age, and was greater in girls than in boys aged up to 10 years. Conclusions: : The negative effect of NE on children's height increases with age and is more pronounced in girls than in boys. Early treatment of NE might limit its detrimental effects on children's growth.