Nocturnal enuresis (NE) is a common condition affecting 5–10% of all 7-year-old children. NE pathophysiology relies on three main factors, abnormal bladder function, excess urine production during sleep and the inability to awaken to the signals of a full bladder. The aim of this review is to evaluate the connection between sleep and its structure and the pathophysiology of NE.

NE often occurs early at night and primarily in sleep stage 2 and “deep sleep”. Although sleep stage distribution seems similar between NE and healthy children recent studies indicate differences in sleep microstructure. Several lines of research support the common notion among parents that children with NE are difficult to awaken. Moreover, children with NE and nocturnal polyuria differ in terms of hemodynamics and possibly autonomic activation at night compared to healthy controls and the hypothesis has formed that these changes are attributable to different sleep characteristics. In support of this hypothesis, children with NE often suffer sleep disordered breathing, as well as disturbed sleep due to awakenings and arousals. Periodic limb movements (PLM) have been seen in children with refractory enuresis but the clinical significance remains unclear.

夜间遗尿（NE）是一种常见病，影响了所有7岁儿童的5-10％。NE病理生理学依赖于三个主要因素，膀胱功能异常，睡眠期间尿液过多和无法唤醒整个膀胱的信号。这篇综述的目的是评估睡眠及其结构与NE的病理生理学之间的联系。

NE通常发生在深夜，主要发生在睡眠第二阶段和“深度睡眠”中。尽管NE和健康儿童之间的睡眠阶段分布似乎相似，但最近的研究表明，睡眠微观结构存在差异。几项研究支持父母之间的共同观点，即NE患儿难以唤醒。此外，与健康对照组相比，患有NE和夜间多尿的儿童在夜间的血流动力学和可能的自主神经激活方面有所不同，并且这种假说已经形成，这些变化可归因于不同的睡眠特征。为支持这一假设，患有NE的儿童经常会出现睡眠呼吸紊乱，以及由于苏醒和唤醒而导致的睡眠紊乱。