Obstructive sleep apnea affects the psychological and behavioural development of children-a case-control study

This study aims to investigate the effects of obstructive sleep apnea on paediatric psychological and behavioural abnormalities. A total of 1086 paediatric patients with obstructive sleep apnea and 728 sample snoring controls were enrolled in the study. Patients with obstructive sleep apnea underwent bilateral tonsillectomy plus adenoidectomy or adenoidectomy alone. Repeated Autism Behaviour Checklist, Spence Children's Anxiety Scale, and Children's Depression Inventory were performed to assess the autism symptoms, anxiety level and depressive symptoms before and after surgery. The score of Autism Behaviour Checklist in preschool children with obstructive sleep apnea was higher than that in control. In school children with obstructive sleep apnea, the score of Spence Children's Anxiety Scale was also higher. School children with obstructive sleep apnea with depressive symptoms were significantly higher than that in control. The scores of Autism Behaviour Checklist, Spence Children's Anxiety Scale, and Children's Depression Inventory in the obstructive sleep apnea group after surgery were significantly lower than that before surgery. Our study showed that the score of Spence Children's Anxiety Scale and Children's Depression Inventory had a close correlation with the illness course and hypoxia duration. The Spence Children's Anxiety Scale and Children's Depression Inventory scores are also closely associated with the Autism Behaviour Checklist score. These results suggest that...
Source: Journal of Sleep Research - Category: Sleep Medicine Authors: Source Type: research