Estimating the dim light melatonin onset of adolescents within a 6-h sampling window: the impact of sampling rate and threshold method

Jun 19, 2016Sleep medicine

Estimating when melatonin starts in teens using 6 hours of dim light data: how sampling times and cutoff methods affect results

AI simplified

Circadian Biology on OpenScience ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Abstract

A total of 66 healthy adolescents aged 14.8-17.8 years were studied to assess the feasibility of measuring dim light melatonin onset (DLMO) with less frequent sampling.

60-min sampling of saliva provided DLMO estimates that were within ± 1 hour of those obtained from 30-min sampling when using absolute thresholds of 3 or 4 pg/mL.
Using a 6-hour window for saliva collection, both sampling rates effectively captured melatonin profiles.
The analysis suggests that less frequent sampling may reduce costs and time while maintaining accuracy in DLMO measurements.
Findings may inform future protocols for assessing circadian rhythms in adolescents, particularly those with sleep-wake disorders.

AI simplified

OBJECTIVE/BACKGROUND: Circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorders (CRSWDs) often manifest during the adolescent years. Measurement of circadian phase such as the dim light melatonin onset (DLMO) improves diagnosis and treatment of these disorders, but financial and time costs limit the use of DLMO phase assessments in clinic. The current analysis aims to inform a cost-effective and efficient protocol to measure the DLMO in older adolescents by reducing the number of samples and total sampling duration.

PATIENTS/METHODS: A total of 66 healthy adolescents (26 males) aged 14.8-17.8 years participated in a study; they were required to sleep on a fixed baseline schedule for a week before which they visited the laboratory for saliva collection in dim light (<20 lux). Two partial 6-h salivary melatonin profiles were derived for each participant. Both profiles began 5 h before bedtime and ended 1 h after bedtime, but one profile was derived from samples taken every 30 min (13 samples) and the other from samples taken every 60 min (seven samples). Three standard thresholds (first three melatonin values mean + 2 SDs, 3 pg/mL, and 4 pg/mL) were used to compute the DLMO. An agreement between DLMOs derived from 30-min and 60-min sampling rates was determined using Bland-Altman analysis; agreement between the sampling rate DLMOs was defined as ± 1 h.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Within a 6-h sampling window, 60-min sampling provided DLMO estimates within ± 1 h of DLMO from 30-min sampling, but only when an absolute threshold (3 or 4 pg/mL) was used to compute the DLMO. Future analyses should be extended to include adolescents with CRSWDs.

Full Text

Full text is available at the source.

View full text (XML) ↗View full text ↗

Estimating the dim light melatonin onset of adolescents within a 6-h sampling window: the impact of sampling rate and threshold method

Abstract

Full Text

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

what lands in your inbox each week:

Recent issues from the circadian biology brief

Abstract

Full Text

Related papers

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

what lands in your inbox each week:

Recent issues from the circadian biology brief