NREM Sleep Parasomnias Commencing in Childhood: Trauma and Atopy as Perpetuating Factors.

Significant differences exist across childhood-, adolescent-, and adult-onset NREM parasomnia presenting in adulthood. This study suggests that adult-onset slow-wave sleep disorders may be confounded by psychiatric disorders resulting in nocturnal sleep disruption and that unresolved traumatic life experiences perpetuate NREM disorders arising in childhood and comprise one of the strongest external risk factors for triggering and perpetuating these disorders in adolescence.