Estimating dim light melatonin onset time in children using delta changes in melatonin

Taisuke Eto; Shingo Kitamura; Akiko Shikano; Kosuke Tanabe; Shigekazu Higuchi; Shingo Noi

doi:10.1007/s41105-023-00493-x

Estimating dim light melatonin onset time in children using delta changes in melatonin

Sleep Biol Rhythms. 2023 Oct 7;22(2):239-246. doi: 10.1007/s41105-023-00493-x. eCollection 2024 Apr.

Authors

Taisuke Eto^#^{1

2

3}, Shingo Kitamura^#¹, Akiko Shikano⁴, Kosuke Tanabe⁵, Shigekazu Higuchi², Shingo Noi⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Sleep-Wake Disorders, National Institute of Mental Health, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, 4-1-1 Ogawa-Higashi, Kodaira, Tokyo 187-8553 Japan.
² Department of Human Life Design and Science, Faculty of Design, Kyushu University, 4-9-1 Shiobaru, Minami-Ku, Fukuoka, 815-8540 Japan.
³ Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Kodaira, Japan.
⁴ Research Institute for Children's Physical Health, Nippon Sport Science University, 7-1-1 Fukasawa, Setagaya-Ku, Tokyo 158-8508 Japan.
⁵ Department of Business Administration, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Teikyo Heisei University, 4-21-2 Nakano, Nakano-Ku, Tokyo 164-8530 Japan.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 38524157
PMCID: PMC10959870 (available on 2024-10-07)
DOI: 10.1007/s41105-023-00493-x

Abstract

We aimed to establish a method for estimating dim light melatonin onset (DLMO) using mathematical slopes calculated from melatonin concentrations at three sampling points before and after sleep in children. The saliva of 30 children (mean age ± SD: 10.2 ± 1.3 years old) was collected under dim-light conditions up to six times every hour starting at 17:30 (t17), namely, 18:30 (t18), 19:30 (t19), 20:30 (t20), 21:30 (t21), 22:30 (t22), and 23:30 (t23), in the evening, and at 6:00 (t30) the following morning. We calculated ${SLOPE}_{on}$ (mathematical slope between melatonin concentrations at t18 and t20, t21 or t22), ${SLOPE}_{off}$ (the slope between t20, t21 or t22, and t30), and $Δ S L O P E$ , which is generated by subtracting ${SLOPE}_{on}$ from ${SLOPE}_{off}$ . DLMO was estimated by multiple regression analysis with the leave-one-out cross-validation (LOOCV) method using ${SLOPE}_{on}$ and ${SLOPE}_{off}$ , and $Δ S L O P E$ . The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) between the estimated and measured DLMOs was used as the index of estimation accuracy. DLMOs estimated using multiple regression equations with ${SLOPE}_{on}$ and ${SLOPE}_{off}$ yielded significant ICCs for the measured DLMOs, with the largest ICC at t20 (ICC = 0.634). Additionally, the ICC between the estimated and measured DLMOs using the equation with $Δ S L O P E$ was significant, with a larger ICC at t20 (ICC = 0.726) than that of the equation with ${SLOPE}_{on}$ and ${SLOPE}_{off}$ . Our results showed that DLMO could be estimated with a certain level of accuracy from salivary melatonin levels at three time points before and after sleep in children.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s41105-023-00493-x.

Keywords: Children; Circadian phase; Dim light melatonin onset (DLMO); Estimating methodologies.

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