For children who have breathing difficulty during sleep, gaining weight around the middle may make things worse.
For children who have breathing difficulty during sleep, gaining weight around the middle may make things worse.
In obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), a person stops breathing multiple times during the night, and is often accompanied by heavy snoring. About 2 percent of children have OSA, which is frequently treated by removing the tonsils and adenoids. Gaining weight is known to worsen OSA in adults, but it's not clear what factors increase the likelihood that a child with mild OSA will experience worsening of their symptoms. To investigate the factors associated with progression of OSA in children, researchers followed 56 Chinese children, aged between 6 and 13 years, with mild OSA for two years. They were able to re-assess 45 of the children. In 13, OSA had gotten worse.
The children whose sleep apnoea had worsened showed a greater increase, on average, in their waist size than the children whose condition hadn't worsened. In addition, more of the children who experienced a worsening of OSA had large tonsils at the study's outset and at follow-up. These children were also more likely to habitually snore at both time points, while boys were more likely than girls to see their OSA get worse.
These findings link increased waist size to worsening symptoms of OSA in children.
In obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), a person stops breathing multiple times during the night, and is often accompanied by heavy snoring. About 2 percent of children have OSA, which is frequently treated by removing the tonsils and adenoids. Gaining weight is known to worsen OSA in adults, but it's not clear what factors increase the likelihood that a child with mild OSA will experience worsening of their symptoms. To investigate the factors associated with progression of OSA in children, researchers followed 56 Chinese children, aged between 6 and 13 years, with mild OSA for two years. They were able to re-assess 45 of the children. In 13, OSA had gotten worse.
The children whose sleep apnoea had worsened showed a greater increase, on average, in their waist size than the children whose condition hadn't worsened. In addition, more of the children who experienced a worsening of OSA had large tonsils at the study's outset and at follow-up. These children were also more likely to habitually snore at both time points, while boys were more likely than girls to see their OSA get worse.
These findings link increased waist size to worsening symptoms of OSA in children.
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