ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) — About one in every 50 kids will develop obstructive sleep apnea, a condition that causes brief periods of stopped breathing during sleep. Here’s what causes this sleep issue in kids.
Sleep is essential for helping kids re-charge, but children with sleep apnea don’t get the rest they need. The disorder can cause pauses in breathing that affect sleep quality and lead to daytime sleepiness, behavior issues, and more.
Floyd Livingston, MD, a pediatric pulmonologist at Nemours Children’s Hospital detailed, “If you look at the bottom third of a classroom in performance, over half those kids will have undiagnosed sleep apnea.”
Dr. Livingston said many kids with sleep apnea will be misdiagnosed as being hyperactive. According to the American Sleep Apnea Association, as many as 25 percent of kids diagnosed with ADHD may actually have sleep apnea.
And while most cases of of this condition in adults are caused by obesity, enlarged tonsils and adenoids are usually to blame in children. The condition most often affects kids between ages two and eight.
“That’s when kids are growing the fastest. So they’re increasing in height but their width is not increasing as quickly so their airway resistance goes up during that time,” Dr. Livingston told Ivanhoe.
Some common symptoms to watch out for include: snoring, gasping for breath, night sweats, bedwetting, sleepwalking, and choking during sleep. The good news is surgery to remove enlarged tonsils and adenoids can help kids find relief. Other treatments include anti-inflammatory or antihistamine medicines, orthodontic devices, or a CPAP machine. The important thing is to get treated so your child can rest easy.
Doctors diagnose sleep apnea in kids by performing an overnight sleep study in a lab. During this test, a special machine measures specific body functions while the child sleeps. It’s painless and non-invasive.
Contributors to this news report include: Julie Marks, Producer; Roque Correa, Editor
Sources:
https://www.wave3.com/2019/09/04/sleep-apnea-children-may-cause-adhd-like-symptoms/
https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-apnea/children-and-sleep-apnea
SLEEP APNEA IN KIDS: GET MORE ZZZS
REPORT #2949
BACKGROUND: Sleep apnea is a potentially serious sleep disorder in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts. If you snore loudly and feel tired even after a full night’s sleep, you might have this condition. The main types of it are obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), which is the more common form that occurs when throat muscles relax, central sleep apnea, which occurs when your brain doesn’t send proper signals to the muscles that control breathing, and complex sleep apnea syndrome, also known as treatment-emergent central sleep apnea, which occurs when someone has both obstructive sleep apnea and central sleep apnea. Fifty to 70 million US adults have a sleep disorder, and obstructive sleep apnea is one of the most prevalent sleep disorders. Approximately 3-7% of men and 2-5% of women have this condition. Worldwide, over 100 million people suffer from this condition.
(Source: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/sleep-apnea/symptoms-causes/syc-20377631
DIAGNOSIS: Often the first signs of OSA are recognized not by the patient, but by the bed partner. Many of those affected have no sleep complaints. The most common signs and symptoms of OSA include snoring, daytime sleepiness or fatigue, restlessness during sleep, frequent nighttime awakenings, sudden awakenings with a sensation of gasping or choking, night sweats, and frequent nighttime urination. If your doctor determines that you have symptoms suggestive of sleep apnea, you may be asked to have a sleep evaluation with a sleep specialist or may order an overnight sleep study to objectively evaluate for sleep apnea.
(Source: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/8718-sleep-apnea)
NEW TREATMENTS: Recent research has focused on the causes of sleep apnea to find new ways to treat it. One new procedure works on the hypoglossal nerve that controls your tongue. A small device implanted in your chest senses when you start to breathe in during sleep. It stimulates your hypoglossal nerve, which pushes your tongue out to widen your airway. People with sleep apnea who’ve had this procedure report less sleepiness and better quality of life afterward. A small number of people in the study had severe side effects, including bleeding and a heart attack. In 2021, the FDA approved the first daytime device for treating mild sleep apnea. The eXciteOSA delivers a mild electrical pulse to the muscles of your tongue. People who used this device for 20 minutes a day over 6 weeks, and then once a week afterward, snored less and breathed more easily while they slept.
* For More Information, Contact:
Margot Winick
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