Abstract
Snoring, and your child’s learning, behaviour and quality of life
Mark Kohler
PhD submitted 2008, University of South Australia and Sleep Disorders Unit, Pulmonary Medicine, Children, Youth and Women’s Health Service
The saying "all bark and no bite" cannot be said of snoring during childhood. Around 8% of all children snore, with around one quarter of these suffering from Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA), the most severe form of obstructed breathing during sleep. Problems with learning, attention, problem solving, behaviour, and reduced quality of life all accompany snoring during childhood, but it is not certain whether treatment of snoring improves these problems.
To examine the effects of treatment 91 children aged 3-12 years completed two assessments 6 months apart of intellectual ability, behaviour, quality of life and over-night monitoring of sleep and breathing. 44 children were frequent snorers with a range of obstructed breathing severity and 47 were healthy, non-snoring children. Snoring children were treated by surgical removal of adenoids and tonsils between assessments.
Before treatment, snoring children performed 9-20% worse than non-snoring children on tasks assessing IQ, general knowledge, memory, problem solving, language skills and visual perception skills. Snoring children were also more anxious and were reported by parents to have reduced quality of life compared to non-snoring children. Six months after treatment snoring was resolved and parents reported improved quality of life amongst previously snoring children. However, treated children still performed worse than non-snoring children on measures of intellectual function and anxiety.
These results are concerning, as it seems that intellectual and behavioural problems amongst children who snore or have OSA are not resolved 6 months after treatment. Earlier treatment of snoring may be important to avoid long-term problems.
