Children with OSA had significantly lower scores than matched controls on full scale IQ tests and significantly lower performance on measures of executive function, including verbal working memory (sentence span) and word fluency. The special brain imaging (proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging) showed decreases in the mean neuronal metabolite ratio of N-acetyl aspartate/choline in the left hippocampus and right frontal cortex, indicating possible neuronal injury in these areas.
Symptomatic childhood sleep-disordered breathing includes a range of conditions in which children have difficulties with breathing when they are asleep. The conditions range from simple snoring to the most severe condition, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). In children, OSA may be associated with enlarged tonsils, long-term allergy, or obesity. About two in every hundred children have OSA. The symptoms of OSA are loud snoring at night, disrupted, restless sleep, undue tiredness, and difficulties in concentration. If untreated, researchers believe that it may lead to a number of long-term problems with health and learning. Children with disorders of sleep have previously been shown to have memory problems, lower general intelligence, and worse executive function (the ability to adapt to new situations), and may have behavioral problems similar to those of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Previous work has shown that adults with sleep apnea have abnormalities of parts of their brain, specifically the frontal cortex, cerebellum, and hip
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Contact: Andrew Hyde
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Public Library of Science
21-Aug-2006