Childhood Sleep Apnea Linked to Brain Damage

Ivanhoe Newswire
Tuesday, August 22, 2006; 12:00 AM

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- It's a wake-up call for both parents and doctors: If sleep apnea is undiagnosed or untreated in children, it might cause brain damage.

New research from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, reveals children with the disorder seem to have problems in two parts of the brain linked to learning ability.

The study compared 19 children with severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) to 12 children without the condition. All were between ages 6 and 16. Researchers used a special type of MRI to find changes in the hippocampus and the right frontal cortex. IQ tests and other standardized performance tests linked the changes to deficits in neuropsychological performance like attention, learning and memory.

"We cannot say with absolute certainty that sleep apnea caused the injury," reports lead author Ann Halbower, M.D., of Johns Hopkins Children's Center. "But what we found is a very strong association between changes in the neurons of the hippocampus and the right frontal cortex and IQ and other cognitive functions in which children with OSA score poorly."

Previous research has linked untreated sleep apnea to cardiovascular problems as well as problems with learning and memory in both children and adults. But this new report shows the cognitive effects of not having the condition treated might be far more damaging in children than in adults because they occur during critical developmental periods.

This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.

SOURCE: Public Library of Science Medicine, published online Aug. 22, 2006