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Snoring
Relief and Sleep Apnea
Sleep Apnea and Snoring in
Children
What Everybody Ought To Know About Sleep Apnea
and Snoring in Children
A variety of respiratory disorders are
associated with sleep, the most common being sleep apnea syndrome. Sleep apnea
syndrome is defined as cessation of breathing, known as apnea, during sleep.
Just as in adults, sleep apnea is classified into three types:
1. Obstructive — lack of airflow due to
pharyngeal occlusion
2. Central — simultaneous cessation of both
airflow and respiratory movements
3. Mixed — a combination of central and
obstructive apnea within one apneic episode.
Statistical reports show that approximately 12
million Americans have sleep apnea. It is more prevalent in men, especially
those who are older and overweight. Cigarette smoking is a risk factor.
Obstructive sleep apnea is defined as frequent
and loud snoring and breathing cessation for 10 seconds or more for five
episodes per hour or more, followed by awakening abruptly with a loud snort as
the blood oxygen level drops.
Patients with sleep apnea may experience
anywhere from five apneic episodes per hour to several hundred per night. Other
symptoms include excessive daytime sleepiness, morning headache, sore throat,
intellectual deterioration, personality changes, behavioral disorders, enuresis,
impotence, obesity, and complaints by the partner that the patient snores loudly
or is unusually restless during sleep.
In today’s clinical findings, the growth of
children suffering from obstructive sleep apnea syndrome is alarmingly
escalating.
Health experts say that it is normal for a
child to snore. In fact, surveys show that nearly 12% of “preschool age
children” snore. Without any destructive symptoms, children who snore may be
experiencing the typical form of snoring.
However, for children who experience more
complicated conditions and affects school behavior, obstructive sleep apnea
syndrome is suspected and must be diagnosed immediately.
Generally, the obstruction, whether in children
or in adults, may be caused by mechanical factors such as a reduced diameter of
the upper airway or dynamic changes in the upper airway during sleep.
The activity of the tonic dilator muscles of
the upper airway is reduced during sleep. These sleep-related changes may
predispose the patient to increased upper airway collapse with the small amounts
of negative pressure generated during inspiration.
Obstructive sleep apnea may be associated with
obesity and with other conditions that reduce pharyngeal muscle tone, such as
neuromuscular disease, sedative/hypnotic medications, or acute ingestion of
alcohol.
The diagnosis of sleep apnea is made based on
clinical features plus polysomnographic findings, in which the cardiopulmonary
status of the patient is monitored during an episode of sleep.
The effects of obstructive sleep apnea can
seriously tax the heart and lungs. Repetitive apneic events result in hypoxia
and hypercapnia, which triggers a sympathetic response.
As a consequence, patients have a high
prevalence of hypertension and an increased risk of myocardial infarction and
stroke.
In patients with underlying cardiovascular
disease, the nocturnal hypoxemia may predispose to dysrhythmias.
In the case of children, most expert say that
it may be hard for the parents to identify if their child is suffering from
obstructive sleep apnea syndrome or is just a regular snorer.
One effective way of identifying obstructive
sleep apnea in children is the existence of a normal sleep pattern and without
“daytime sleepiness.”
Children with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome
experience more symptoms and complications. Here are some of the common symptoms
of sleep apnea in children.
1. Disrupted sleep
2. Behavioral problems
This can be traced back to the time when the
concerned children get easily irritated and annoyed because of the disrupted
sleep they have experience before.
3. Short attention
Sleep apnea in children almost normally has
hard time coping with the stresses in life. They tend to have shorter memory and
may cause further health problems, as a consequence of sleep apnea syndrome.
4. High blood pressure
5. Poor weight gain
6. Obesity
Treatment
Treatment in children affected with sleep apnea
also includes medication. Pro-triptyline given at bedtime is thought to increase
the respiratory drive and improve upper airway associated with chronic alveolar
hypoventilation.
Management
Children suffering from obstructive sleep apnea
may not recognize the potential consequences of the disorder. Therefore, the
nurse explains the disorder to the children as well as the parents, in language
that is understandable to the patient and parents considering the fact that the
patient is a child.
Snoring in children is not a bad sign. However,
if it is already causing so much trouble and diagnostic findings reveal that
snoring in a particular child is already a sign of obstructive sleep apnea
syndrome, appropriate medications and treatment is deemed necessary.
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