Methodology
Informed consents were obtained from the mothers who were the primary
care givers for the young athletes enrolled in the current study. Each
athlete was subjected to detailed history taking laying stress on their
compliance during the lock down period and any family illnesses or
deaths witnessed. History of their daily sleeping hours, screen time and
video gaming were obtained in details. Their anthropometric measurements
were taken in July 2020, mainly weight and height with calculation of
their body mass index (BMI) and the values were plotted against the
growth charts [4, 5] . The measurements were compared
to the ones recorded in March 2020 during their last training session
before the COVID 19 lockdown. Two questionnaires were filled by each of
the enrolled athlete. The first one covered their sleep habits
[6] and the second was concerned with their quality
of life (QoL) [7, 8] . Finally, the mothers were
asked to fill in a questionnaire concerned with depression, anxiety and
stress (DASS-21). The mothers were also asked whether their sons
experienced any tics during their home lockdown period.
The Children’s Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ) was utilized in the
present study. It is a structured interview to assess sleep problems in
school children. The questionnaire consists of 33 items covering eight
domains or parameters: bedtime resistance, sleep onset delay, sleep
duration, sleep-related anxiety problems, sleep-related breathing
disorder, as well as excessive daytime somnolence. It was originally
developed by [6] .
Regarding the QoL the current study applied the multidimensional PedsQL
4.0 questionnaire created by Varni and his associates to measure the
essential core domains for pediatric health related quality of life
(HRQoL): Physical functioning, emotional functioning, and social
functioning, as delineated by the World Health Organization, as well as
school functioning [7, 8] .
The Arabic version of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21) was
used in the current study and it is based on the original English
DASS-21 [9] . It is a set of three self-report scales
designed to measure the emotional states of depression, anxiety and
stress. Each of the three DASS-21 scales contains 7 items, divided into
subscales with similar content. The depression scale assesses dysphoria,
hopelessness, devaluation of life, self-deprecation, lack of interest /
involvement, anhedonia and inertia. The anxiety scale assesses autonomic
arousal, skeletal muscle effects, situational anxiety, and subjective
experience of anxious affect. The stress scale is sensitive to levels of
chronic nonspecific arousal. It assesses difficulty relaxing, nervous
arousal, and being easily upset / agitated, irritable / over-reactive
and impatient. Scores for depression, anxiety and stress are calculated
by summing the scores for the relevant items.