Monitoring Physical Activity and Sleep Quality in Children with Blindness and Deafness: A Cross-sectional Study

Abstract Background Child development has critical links to his ability to see and hear. When these senses are impaired, everything is impacted. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of visual and hearing impairments on physical activity and sleep quality in a comparison with the normal sighted-hearing children. Methods This cross-sectional study included 60 Saudi children (20 blind, 20 sensorineural deaf, and 20 sighted-hearing) aged 10 to 15 years old. The physical activity levels and sleep quality were assessed using a waist-mounted ActiGraph accelerometer. Results Children with sensorineural deafness were significantly more active (in step rate and activity rate) than the sighted-hearing group (p = 0.05 and 0.003, respectively). Sighted-hearing children and children with blindness had significantly more sedentary time than children with sensorineural deafness (p = 0.004 and 0.03, respectively). Sleep efficiency was significantly higher in children with sensorineural deafness than sighted-hearing children (p = 0.02). No significant difference was recorded in any of the sleep parameters when children with blindness were compared to the sighted-hearing or children with sensorineural deafness (p > 0.05). Conclusions The ActiGraph results revealed that children with sensorineural deafness were significantly more active and with higher sleep efficiency than sighted-hearing children. Children with blindness spent more time in sedentary activities and less time in moderate activities than children with sensorineural deafness. There was no significant difference in sleep efficiency when comparing sensorineural deaf and blind children.