Study: Sleep terrors partly inherited

Night terrors, which send children into sudden inconsolable screaming, are at least partially inherited, according to a study published yesterday.

"Our results show that there is a substantial effect of genetics factors in sleep terrors," though no specific genes behind the phenomenon have been identified, Bich Hong Nguyen of the Sleep Disorders Center at Montreal's Sacre-Coeur Hospital and colleagues reported.

In the study of 390 sets of twins, which appeared in the journal Pediatrics, the researchers found identical twins were much more likely to both experience night terrors than fraternal twins.