Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Mar 21;12(6):2418.
doi: 10.3390/jcm12062418.

Features of Obstructive Sleep Apnea in Children with and without Comorbidities

Eusebi Chiner  1 , Jose N Sancho-Chust  1 , Esther Pastor  1 , Violeta Esteban  1 , Ignacio Boira  1 , Carmen Castelló  1 , Carly Celis  1 , Sandra Vañes  1 , Anastasiya Torba  1
Affiliations

Features of Obstructive Sleep Apnea in Children with and without Comorbidities

Eusebi Chiner et al. J Clin Med. .

Abstract

Background: To compare the clinical and polysomnographic features of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in children with adenotonsillar hypertrophy (Group A) and comorbidities (Group B).

Methods: A five-year prospective study using nocturnal polysomnography before and after treatment.

Results: We included 168 patients: 121 in Group A and 47 in Group B, with differences in age (6.5 ± 3 vs. 8.6 ± 4 years; p < 0.001), body mass index (BMI) (18 ± 4 vs. 20 ± 7 kg/m2; p < 0.05), neck circumference (28 ± 4 vs. 30 ± 5 cm; p < 0.05), and obesity (17% vs. 30%; p < 0.05). Group B patients were more likely to have facial anomalies (p < 0.001), macroglossia (p < 0.01), dolichocephaly (p < 0.01), micrognathia (p < 0.001), and prognathism (p < 0.05). Adenotonsillectomy was performed in 103 Group A patients (85%) and 28 Group B patients (60%) (p < 0.001). In B, 13 children (28%) received treatment with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) and 2 (4%) with bilevel positive airway pressure (BiPAP), compared with 7 in Group A (6%) (p < 0.001). Maxillofacial surgery was more common in Group B (p < 0.01). Clinical and polysomnography parameters improved significantly in both groups after therapeutic intervention, though Group A showed better results.

Conclusions: Obesity and facial anomalies are more frequent in childhood OSA patients with comorbidities, who often require combination therapy, such as ventilation and surgery.

Keywords: adenotonsillar hypertrophy; childhood sleep apnea; concomitant disease; predisposing factors.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(A) Comparison of nocturnal clinical manifestations in Groups A and B. (B) Comparison of neuropsychiatric clinical manifestations in Groups A and B. (C) Comparison of daytime clinical manifestations in Groups A and B.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Comparison of obstructive sleep apnea severity measured by the apnea–hypopnea index (AHI) in Groups A and B.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Post-treatment clinical manifestations of apnea–hypopnea syndrome during sleep.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Hornero R., Kheirandish-Gozal L., Gutiérrez-Tobal G., Philby M.F., Alonso-Álvarez M.L., Alvarez D., Dayyat E.A., Xu Z., Huang Y., Kakazu M.T., et al. Consensus document on sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome in children. Sociedad Española de Sueño. El Área de Sueño de la Sociedad Española de Neumología y Cirugía Torácica (SEPAR) Arch. Bronconeumol. 2011;47:2–18. doi: 10.1164/rccm.201705-0930OC. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Chiner E., Sancho-Chust J.N., Pérez P., Arlandis M., Pastor E., Martínez-García M.A. El Síndrome de Apnea en Poblaciones Especiales. Ed Respira; Barcelona, Spain: 2016. Capítulo 9. SAHS en población infantil. Las amígdalas no son todo; pp. 110–126.
    1. Kaditis A.G., Alvarez M.L.A., Boudewyns A., Abel F., Alexopoulos E., Ersu R., Joosten K., Larramona H., Miano S., Narang I., et al. ERS statement on obstructive sleep disordered breathing in 1- to 23-month-old children. Eur. Respir. J. 2017;50:1700985. doi: 10.1183/13993003.00985-2017. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Llombart M., Chiner E., Gómez-Merino E., Andreu A., Pastor E., Senent C., Camarasa A., Signes-Costa J. Síndrome de apneas-hipopneas durante el sueño en población infantil: Diferencias en su expresión entre niños con hipertrofia amigdalar y con enfermedad concomitante. Arch. Bronconeumol. 2007;43:655–661. doi: 10.1157/13112963. - DOI - PubMed
    1. di Palmo E., Filice E., Cavallo A., Caffarelli C., Maltoni G., Miniaci A., Ricci G., Pession A. Childhood Obesity and Respiratory Diseases: Which Link? Children. 2021;8:177. doi: 10.3390/children8030177. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources