Background: For a variety of reasons, either by societal changes or due to lifestyle choice, chronic sleep loss and sleep disturbance are increasingly common among both adults and children. Studies among adults have revealed that disrupted sleep is implicated in the pathogenesis of numerous co-morbidities, including type 2 diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart disease, dyslipidemia, endothelial dysfunction, and metabolic syndrome. However,compared to adults, little is known about sleep and its health effects among special population, such as children, adolescents, and pregnant women. 

Methods: A sleep series epidemiological study was designed to obtain insight into sleep health among special population, including children, adolescents and pregnant women. Part I Study among Children and adolescents: 1) sleep patterns and their distribution in a large national cross-sectional survey; 2) a longitudinal associations of sleep with school performance, metabolic status, and neurobehavioral development in a prospective cohort study; 3) the effectiveness of a school-based sleep intervention scheme using a comparative cross-sectional analysis of pre- and post-intervention surveys. Part II Study among pregnant women: 1) the trajectories of sleep quality and their associations with maternal BMI gain speed during pregnancy based on a maternal sleep cohort study; 2) the association between periconceptional poor sleep and the risk of congenital heart disease, and to examine if daytime napping could to some extent change the association. 

Results and conclusions: The prevalence of daytime sleepiness was 64.4% in school-aged children and approximate 80% in adolescents. Sleep problems, daytime sleepiness, and in some cases, short sleep duration were significantly associated with impaired academic achievement, mental health problems, and childhood obesity. School schedule could be considered as a target for sleep intervention. Poor sleep quality during pregnancy was associated with advanced BMI gain speed in pregnant women. Poor maternal sleep around periconceptional period seems to be an independent risk factor for congenital heart disease. The concurrence with daytime nap could to some extent reverse the effect.

Research experience 

Pro. Shenghui Li has been dedicated in sleep related research for more than 10 years. Her research team surveyed sleep characteristics among Chinese children and adolescents based on large epidemiological study; evaluated the impact of sleep on growth and development, especially on endocrine metabolic characteristics and neurobehavioral development. Currently, they focus on the evaluation ofsleep parametersduring pregnancy and their short- and long-term health impacts. In addition, Pro. Li and her research team are carrying out a multi-center clinical research to explore the role of environment - genetic interactions in embryonic development. 

Main achievements 

Pro. Shenghui Lihas published more than 60 academic papers in professional journals, such as Sleep, Sleep Medicine, and Obesity as first author or corresponding author. She edited two textbooks for undergraduate and postgraduate students majoring in preventive medicine, and an academic monograph in the field of sleep “Encyclopeida of Sleep and Dream”. As a chief-editor, Shenghui Li complies a sleep science treatise “Focusing on Sleep--From the First 1000 Days of Life”. Her series of studies of sleep won the 1st prize in science and technology of the ministry of education in 2011 and 2nd prize of national science and technology progress in 2012, respectively. Based on her productive work, she was rewarded as excellentdiscipline leader in field of public health by Shanghai municipal government.