Respiratory disorders affect 5 percent of children, especially those between the ages of three and eight, impacting their physical health, mood, and academic performance.
Sleep is restorative, especially for children, who, after a long day of diverse activities, sleep and rest to recharge their batteries. However, if this doesn’t happen, if the child doesn’t sleep well, they’ll feel tired and irritable the next day.
In most cases, it is not diagnosed because parents assume that the child simply sleeps poorly.
This disorder occurs as a result of a total or partial obstruction of the upper airways , causing a pause in breathing during the night.
The breathing pauses a child experiences while sleeping decrease oxygen levels in the body. The brain detects this situation as a “threat” and awakens the child so their body can resume functioning. If breathing pauses are frequent, the child will sleep less and will not rest, which can harm their physical and mental health.
It can impact the child’s quality of life, as it alters craniofacial growth and the development of basic functions, such as chewing.
A child breathes most of the time through the nose, and normally, when the mouth is closed, the tongue touches the palate, which also prevents continuous snoring.
If you don’t breathe this way, it can lead to problems with dental development, such as malocclusion, where the teeth shift out of their normal position. This problem occurs in seven out of ten children with obstructive sleep apnea.
The symptoms
- Pause in breathing. When sleeping, they often gasp and make sounds as if they are choking.
- Snoring is also a very common symptom of childhood obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS).
- Behavioral problems, such as anxiety, aggression, depression, hyperactivity, irritability, or concentration difficulties.
- Restless sleep, nightmares, night sweats, incontinence, or mouth breathing.
The diagnosis
An early diagnosis is essential to solve the problem and avoid complications in the child’s growth, as they could develop hypertension, high cholesterol, prediabetes, or cardiovascular diseases.
To detect obstructive sleep apnea, a nocturnal polysomnogram is performed . The child must spend one night at the specialized center where the study is performed. Eye movements, heart rate, snoring, breathing, oxygen levels, and sleep movements and postures are monitored and analyzed.
In some cases, the disorder is caused by other problems, such as nocturnal gastroesophageal reflux, symptoms of poor sleep, or daytime signs related to sleep-disordered breathing.
Once the diagnosis is confirmed, if the cause of the apnea is the excessive size of the tonsils or adenoids, they are surgically removed.
In more severe cases, where the cause is not the size of the tonsils, treatment can be achieved with continuous positive airway pressure therapy
. This therapy consists of a mask that the child wears at night.
It can cover just the nose or both the nose and mouth and is connected to a machine that pumps air to keep the airways open.
If obstructive sleep apnea is caused by excess weight, the most important thing is for the child to lose the extra pounds through exercise and dietary changes.
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