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UA researchers examine sleep apnea in children

National Institute of Health awards grant for study

The UA Respiratory Science Center last month received a $1.5 million grant to help some children sleep better.

The award, from the National Institute of Health, will be used to conduct a study on sleep apnea and learn how it affects children who suffer from it.

Sleep apnea is a condition in which people stop breathing while they sleep. Many studies have been conducted on this disorder, but the vast majority of them have focused on adults.

"There is increasing recognition that obstructive sleep apnea and its variants are an important public health issue in adults, with an estimated prevalence rate of four percent in middle-aged men and two percent in middle-aged women," said Dr. Stuart Quan, associate department head for internal medicine at the Arizona Health Sciences Center.

Dr. Wendy Baldwin, deputy director of extramural research for the National Institute of Health, said the organization sponsors a number of grants.

"To protect and improve human health, the NIH conducts and supports basic, applied, and clinical and health services research to understand the processes underlying human health and to acquire new knowledge to help prevent, diagnose and treat human diseases and disabilities," Baldwin said.

Quan said sleep apnea can lead to a higher risk of several health problems.

"Major symptoms are loud snoring, daytime sleepiness and witnessed breathing pauses during sleep," Quan said. "In addition, there is an increased risk for driving accidents related to daytime sleepiness."

Evidence also suggests that sleep apnea increases the risk factor for hypertension, heart disease and stroke, according to an Arizona Health Sciences Center press release.

About 2,500 children between the ages of six and 12 in Tucson will participate in this four-year study. Children will be randomly selected from school systems that have agreed to participate and from children whose parents have approved this study.

"Recently, it has been recognized that sleep apnea occurs in children, but the symptoms of sleep apnea are different in children than adults," Quan said. "For example, children with sleep apnea are frequently hyperactive instead of sleepy."

The objectives of this research include determining if there are any physical differences between children who have apnea and children who do not.

Quan said the effects of sleep apnea on children are not clear. However, data suggest that it can have an adverse effect on learning in children.

The researchers will additionally investigate if these sleeping disturbances have adverse effects on school performance and determine whether these effects vary between Caucasians and Hispanics.

"What we hope to learn from this study is the prevalence of sleep apnea and other forms of sleep-disturbed breathing in this population, as well as to identify physical characteristics that are risk factors for these conditions," Quan said.

"This information will help clinical pulmonary doctors determine which children are most likely to develop sleep-disturbed breathing and to suffer from the associated negative effects on their health and education," Quan added.

Additional investigators include Drs. Wayne Morgan and Paul Enright from the UA Respiratory Science Center, Ralph Fregosi from the Department of Physiology, Dr. Gerald Rosen of the University of Minnesota School of Medicine, Dr. Kris Kaemingk of the Department of Pediatrics and Dr. Andrew Jackson who is serving as a consultant.