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Cognitive function in preschool children with sleep-disordered breathing

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Abstract

Purpose

The purposes of this study were to assess cognitive functions in preschool children with sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) and to compare them with matched control children.

Methods

A clinical sample of 2.5- to 6-year-old children with SDB was recruited. All children underwent sleep clinical record (SCR), which is a polysomnography (PSG)-validated questionnaire for diagnosing SDB, a polysomnography and a neurocognitive assessment. Normal controls were recruited from a kindergarten. They underwent the SCR and the cognitive assessment.

Results

We studied 41 children with primary snoring (PS)-mild obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS; M/F = 15/26, mean age 4.43 ± 0.94), 36 children with moderate-severe OSAS (M/F = 22/14, mean age 4.33 ± 1.02), and 83 controls (M/F = 33/50, mean age 4.5 ± 0.64). In the two groups, no differences were found in duration and age of onset of SDB, while a significant difference emerged in SCR score (p < 0.005). No differences emerged in the three groups in Verbal IQ, Performance IQ, and Global IQ scores, nor in any cognitive subtests.

Conclusions

We demonstrated that SDB of all severities is not associated with cognitive impairment compared to the control group in preschool age.

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Conflict of interest

None of the authors have potential conflicts of interest to be disclosed.

Financial support and off-label or investigational use

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chair of Pediatrics, Pediatric Sleep Disease Centre, Child Neurology, NESMOS Department, School of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, S. Andrea Hospital, Via di Grottarossa 1035-39, 4, Rome, Italy

    Nicoletta Pietropaoli, Maria Chiara Supino, Ottavio Vitelli, Jole Rabasco, Melania Evangelisti, Martina Forlani, Pasquale Parisi & Maria Pia Villa

Authors
  1. Nicoletta Pietropaoli
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  2. Maria Chiara Supino
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  3. Ottavio Vitelli
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  4. Jole Rabasco
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  5. Melania Evangelisti
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  6. Martina Forlani
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  7. Pasquale Parisi
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  8. Maria Pia Villa
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Maria Pia Villa.

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Pietropaoli, N., Supino, M.C., Vitelli, O. et al. Cognitive function in preschool children with sleep-disordered breathing. Sleep Breath 19, 1431–1437 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-015-1157-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-015-1157-3

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