Snoring Linked to Childhood Behavioral Problems

When I ask children and their parents about snoring, it often elicits laughter or some sense of embarrassment.  However, their is extensive evidence that snoring may not be harmless.  SS

Child behaviour link' to snoring

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Sleep apnoea and snoring made conditions such as hyperactivity more likely later on, researchers said.

The study, published in the US journal Pediatrics, looked at data on 11,000 children living in the UK.

Lead researcher Dr Karen Bonuck said the sleep problems could be harming the developing brain.

One estimate suggests one in 10 children regularly snores and 2% to 4% suffer from sleep apnoea, which means the breathing is obstructed and interrupted during sleep.

Often enlarged tonsils or adenoids are to blame for the conditions.

In adults, the result can be severe day-time tiredness, and some studies have hinted that behavioural problems such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder might be linked to the condition in children.

The latest study is sufficiently large to offer a clearer view of this.

Oxygen supply

Parents were asked to fill in a questionnaire in which both the level of snoring and apnoea were recorded in the first six or seven years of life, and contrasted with their own assessment of the child's behaviour.

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SocietyDr Bonuck, from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University in New York, said that children with breathing issues during sleep were between 40% and 100% more likely to develop "neurobehavioural problems" by the age of seven.She believes that the sleep breathing issues could cause behavioural problems in a number of ways - by reducing the supply of oxygen to the brain, interrupting the "restorative processes" of sleep or disrupting the balance of brain chemicals.

She said: "Until now, we really didn't have strong evidence that sleep-disordered breathing actually preceded problematic behaviour such as hyperactivity.

"But this study shows clearly that symptoms do precede behavioural problems and strongly suggests that they are causing these problems."

Marianne Davey, from the British Snoring and Sleep Apnoea Society, said that sleep problems in the young were an under-recognised reason for poor behaviour.

She said: "Often parents won't make the connection and mention them to the GP, so this label of ADHD is given to the child, and sometimes they are even given drugs.

"This is wrong, as if the sleep problem is addressed, the behaviour will improve almost immediately."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17237576

Childhood Obesity Linked To Asthma

Obesity has been linked to a number of diseases associated with inflammation.  This large study provides strong evidence that obese children are more likely to have asthma.  SS 

Kaiser Permanente Study Finds Obesity-Asthma Link in Children Varies by Race/Ethnicity

Electronic Health Records Used to Study 681,000 Youth

By Kaiser Permanente

Published: Monday, Feb. 27, 2012 - 6:08 am

PASADENA, Calif., Feb. 27, 2012 -- PASADENA, Calif., Feb. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Children and adolescents who are overweight or obese are more likely to have asthma than their healthy weight counterparts, according to a new Kaiser Permanente Southern California study published in the online edition of Obesity. The study, which included more than 681,000 children between ages 6 and 19, found that the association between asthma and body mass index varied by race and ethnicity.

The study found that the association between BMI and asthma was weaker for African Americans, a group that was previously known to have the highest prevalence of asthma, than for youth from other racial and ethnic groups. Researchers found the strongest association between BMI and asthma in Hispanic youth.

"This research contributes to the growing evidence that there is a relationship between childhood obesity and asthma, and suggests that factors related to race and ethnicity, particularly for Hispanic youth, may modify this relationship," said study lead author Mary Helen Black, PhD, of the Kaiser Permanente Southern California Department of Research & Evaluation. "The study's large and diverse population, which is broadly representative of the Southern California region,allowed us to examine a wide range of BMI categories in relation to asthma among youth from five racial/ethnic groups."

Researchers also found that, among youth with asthma, being overweight or obese was associated with more frequent visits to the doctor or emergency department for asthma. In addition, overweight or obese youth with asthma used more inhaled and oral corticosteroid asthma drugs, when compared to healthy weight youth. The need for these medical treatments could have broader health implications as other studies have suggested a link between these medications and type 2 diabetes. 

The cross-sectional, population-based study included youth from a racially and ethnically diverse population. Asthma was fairly common in this population, affecting about 18 percent of the youth in the study. Researchers used electronic health records to obtain height and weight measurements, asthma diagnoses, and dispensed prescriptions for asthma-specific medications for children and adolescents in the Kaiser Permanente Southern California integrated health planfrom 2007 to 2009. 

This study is part of the Kaiser Permanente Southern California Children's Health Study, and their ongoing work to better understand and prevent childhood obesity.

Last year, the KPSC Children's Health Study found that 7 percent of boys and 6 percent of girls ages 2 to 19 in the population were extremely obese. This study also has used electronic health records to determine that children who were obese or overweight have a significantly higher prevalence of psoriasis, a chronic inflammatory disease of the skin.

Other study authors included Ning Smith,PhD, Steven Jacobsen, MD, PhD, and Corinna Koebnick, PhD, from the Department of Research & Evaluation, Kaiser Permanente Southern California; and Amy H Porter, MD, from the Department of Pediatrics, Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/02/27/4294206/kaiser-permanente-study-finds.html#storylink=cpy

http://www.sacbee.com/2012/02/27/4294206/kaiser-permanente-study-finds.html