ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sleep
Sec. Pediatric and Adolescent Sleep
Volume 4 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/frsle.2025.1593196
Feasibility and Acceptability of Self-Directed, Remote Dim-Light Melatonin Onset Collection in Pediatric Patients Diagnosed with Chronic Pain
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
- 2Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
- 3Wisconsin Institute for Sleep and Consciousness, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States
- 4Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin - La Crosse, La Crosse, Wisconsin, United States
- 5Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA, United States
- 6Center for Genomic Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
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Sleep dysregulation is highly prevalent in pediatric chronic pain conditions and associated with poorer clinical outcomes. Interactions between underlying circadian misalignments and pain in pediatric populations remain unclear. Dim-light melatonin onset collections conducted in external lab settings are standard for measuring circadian rhythmicity by examining fluctuations in melatonin levels. However, present limitations prevent us from capturing a typical night's sleep and minimize accessibility to broader populations due to geographic, financial, and temporal barriers. We investigated a novel approach in which participants complete collections in an entirely self-directed manner using an at-home diagnostic kit. Participants included pediatric patients with diagnosed chronic pain and healthy controls. The 3-week protocol involved sleep, activity, and light tracking, self-reported sleep diaries, a
Keywords: Pediatric1, Melatonin2, Chronic3, pain4, circadian5 VWR Digital Luxmeter LXM001 lue light-blocking glasses were Font color: Auto Deleted: study's In the second population, our current pediatric group Font: 12 pt, Italic Font: 12 pt, Space Before: 0 pt
Received: 13 Mar 2025; Accepted: 02 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Tacugue, Love, Cherry, Lane and Kossowsky. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Joe Kossowsky, Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, 02115, Massachusetts, United States
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