Pediatric sleep apnea is a sleep disorder that causes breathing pauses during sleep.
The process for diagnosing sleep apnea in children differs slightly from that for adults.
What Happens If Sleep Apnea Goes Untreated in Children?
BSIP / Getty Images
These issues can affect growth, learning, and behavior.
From there, diagnosing sleep apnea in children is slightly different from diagnosing it in adults.
How Is Sleep Apnea in Children Treated?
Severaltreatment options for sleep apneaare available for children, depending on the individual circumstances and severity of the case.
Lifestyle Changes
Lifestyle changes can help mitigate sleep apnea symptoms.
This proved especially true in children with enlarged tonsils or adenoids.
Additional surgical procedures may also help correct certain structural issues contributing to sleep apnea if needed.
This deviceis intended to keep airways open during sleep time.
This machine is responsible for pumping pressured air through the tube and into the mask and airways during sleep.
Apnea Alarms
A home apnea alarm or monitor helps track breathing and other vital signs.
What Is the Outlook for Children With Sleep Apnea?
A pediatricsleep apnea diagnosisshould be taken seriously.
Summary
Pediatric sleep apnea is a sleep disorder that causes breathing disturbances at night.
Common symptoms in children manifest as snoring, restlessness, behavioral issues, and daytime sleepiness.
Diagnosis often requires an overnight sleep study and sometimes an electrocardiogram test.
Children’s Hospital Colorado.Central sleep apnea (CSA) in children.
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.What is sleep apnea?.
American Academy of Pediatrics.Sleep apnea in children: detection & treatment.
Trosman I, Trosman SJ.Cognitive and behavioral consequences of sleep disordered breathing in children.Med Sci (Basel).
2017;5(4):30. doi:10.3390/medsci5040030
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.Living with sleep apnea.
Yale Medicine.Pediatric sleep study.
Ma Y et al.Electrocardiogram-based sleep analysis for sleep apnea screening and diagnosis.Sleep Breath.
Yale Medicine.Pediatric obstructive sleep apnea.
2022;58:e21052.
2015;16(3):358-63. doi:10.1016/j.sleep.2014.10.015
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.Sleep apnea: treatment.
Paglietti MG et al.Long term non-invasive ventilation in children with central hypoventilation.Front Pediatr.
2020;8:288. doi:10.3389/fped.2020.00288.
MedlinePlus.Home apnea monitor use-infants.
American Academy of Pediatrics.The truth about home apnea monitors for SIDs.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Key sleep disorders.
Epub 2010 Oct 7.
