Pediatric OSA Syndrome Morbidity Biomarkers: The Hunt Is Finally On!

Abstract

Since initial reports 40 years ago on pediatric OSA syndrome (OSAS) as a distinct and prevalent clinical entity, substantial advances have occurred in the delineation of diagnostic and treatment approaches. However, despite emerging and compelling evidence that OSAS increases the risk for cognitive, cardiovascular, and metabolic end-organ morbidities, routine assessment of such morbidities is seldom conducted in clinical practice. One of the major reasons for such discrepancies resides in the relatively labor-intensive and onerous steps that would be required to detect the presence of any of such morbidities, further adding to the already elevated cost of diagnosing the disorder. To circumvent these obstacles, the search for biomarker signatures of pediatric OSA and its cognitive and cardiometabolic consequences was launched, and considerable progress has occurred since then. Here, we review the current evidence for the presence of morbidity-related biomarkers among children with OSAS, and explore future opportunities in this promising arena.

Keywords: biomarker; children; morbidity; phenotype; sleep apnea.