Bed-wetting may lead to sleep apnoea

Children who are overweight and wet the bed at night may have obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA).

Enuresis or bed-wetting is the involuntary passage of urine beyond the age of anticipated control that is usually around 5-6 years. 15-20% of children 5 years of age wet their beds. Obstructive sleep apnoea is a sleep disorder caused due to the obstruction in the upper airway and is a common problem in children. It results in daytime attention and behavioural problems.

To explore if obstructive sleep apnea is related to body weight and nocturnal enuresis in children, researchers identified 149 children aged between 5 and 15 years with obstructive sleep apnoea and 139 children without the disorder.

Those with obstructive sleep apnea were grouped into apnea severity categories (minimal, mild, moderate, or severe) on the basis of respiratory disturbance index and minimum arterial oxygen saturation levels. The researchers collected data for all children on age, gender, height, weight, and history of bed-wetting, snoring, diabetes, nasal allergies, and/or enlarged tonsils.

It was found that bedwetting raised the likelihood of obstructive sleep apnoea more than fivefold and being overweight raised the likelihood of OSA more than fourfold. However, their associations are independent of each other and being overweight and bedwetting were not found to be linked.

The researchers recommended that doctors should consider obstructive sleep apnoea in overweight children who wet the bed, especially when they display other symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea or fail to respond to standard bedwetting treatment programmes.