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A study on the effects of snoring in young children found that there was a strong link
between frequent snoring and sleep apnea, and various impairments on various cognitive and
intellectual abilities.
Past studies have found snoring to be present in 18% to 20% of infants, 7% to 13% of
children from 2 to 8 years of age, and 3% to 5% of older children. Sleep Disordered
Breathing (SDB) can range from mild snoring to Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA),
characterized by frequent obstruction of the air passageway resulting in interrupted
sleep, frequently leading to functional sleep deprivation.
Cardiovascular disease is one known long-term effect of SDB; however a lesser known
consequence appears to be diminished neurocognitive function. In adults, untreated SDB
leads to impairments of fine visual and motor coordination and of sustained attention and
concentration deficits. Furthermore, MRIs have shown that the parts of the brain affected
by SDB indicate early-onset deficits.
This study adds to current research on mild SDB in children and frequent neurobehavioral
disorders such as learning and cognitive deficits, and behavioral problems such as
attention deficit and hyperactivity.
Methods
A broad range of neurocognitive tests were used in a sample of 5-year-old children. The
researchers implemented a population-derived sample—meaning that the participants of
the study were randomly selected from the general population—as opposed to being a
referral-based cohort—a group referred by a clinic or health care practitioners.
Results
30% of the children were found to have symptoms of SDB. Also, there was a relationship
between these symptoms (snoring, loud breathing during sleep, and sleep apnea) and damaged
behavioral control and impaired memory and other intellectual capacities.
Furthermore, these findings remained even after removing data for 8 children whose
symptoms were more severe.
Conclusion
The findings of this study suggest that neurocognitive impairments are only associated
with mild symptoms of SDB, namely, “benign” snoring, or borderline obstructive
sleep apnea (OSA).
This study’s strengths included the use of a population-based cohort and the
implementation of state-of-the-art neurocognitive tests, enabling researchers to more
clearly distinguish between various levels of SDB; however, there are several limitations
to this study as well.
Researchers of this study did not include demographic information, such as:
income/education level, race, ethnicity, various sleep patterns, and body mass index.
Furthermore, in order to determine the causes of SDB and the disorder’s relationship
to neurocognitive deficiencies, additional longitudinal studies will be needed to assess
children in their preschool years.
There are further implications that upper airway resistance related to snoring and noisy
breathing may lead to poor school performance in children. Additional studies will be
required to determine how to best assess this risk and to define the age and means by
which to intervene to avoid long-term neurocognitive dysfunction.
Complete findings of the study appear in Journal of Pediatrics, October 2004; 145: pp.
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