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Pediatric Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Sleep disordered breathing (SDB) is a common problem for adults leading to hypertension, heart attack, stroke, and early death. Other consequences are bedroom disharmony, excessive daytime sleepiness, weight gain, poor performance at work, failing personal relationships, and increased risk for accidents, including motor vehicle accidents.
Sleep disordered breathing in children, from infancy through puberty, is in some ways a similar condition but has different causes, consequences, and treatments. A child with SDB does not necessarily have this condition as an adult.
Pediatric obstructive sleep apnea
The premiere symptom of sleep disordered breathing is snoring that is loud, present every night regardless of sleep position, and is ultimately interrupted by complete obstruction of breathing with gasping and snorting noises. Approximately 10 percent of children are reported to snore. Ten percent of these children (one percent of the total pediatric population) have obstructive sleep apnea.
When an individual, young or old, obstructs breathing during sleep, the body perceives this as a choking phenomenon. The heart rate slows, the sympathetic nervous system is stimulated, blood pressure rises, the brain is aroused, and sleep is disrupted. In most cases a child's vascular system can tolerate the changes in blood pressure and heart rate. However, a child's brain does not tolerate the repeated interruptions to sleep, leading to a child that is sleep deprived, cranky, and ill behaved.
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Consequences of untreated pediatric sleep disordered breathing
- Snoring: A problem if a child shares a room with a sibling and during sleepovers.
- Sleep deprivation: The child may become moody, inattentive, and disruptive both at home and at school. Classroom and athletic performance may decrease along with overall happiness. The child will lack energy, often preferring to sit in front of the television rather than participate in school and other activities. This may contribute to obesity.
- Abnormal urine production: SDB also causes increased nighttime urine production, and in children, this may lead to bedwetting.
- Growth: Growth hormone is secreted at night. Those with SDB may suffer interruptions in hormone secretion, resulting in slow growth or development.
- Attention deficit disorder (ADD) / attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): There are research findings that identify sleep disordered breathing as a contributing factor to attention deficit disorders.
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© 2004 AAO-HNS/AAO-HNSF
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