Snoring may affect kids’ mental abilities

	Tweet

Five-year-old children who snore or have sleep apnea—the more serious disorder in which breathing stops intermittently while they sleep-- score worse on tests of memory and intelligence than unaffected kids, investigators report.

Dr. Daniel J. Gottlieb, at Boston University School of Medicine, and colleagues studied a population-based sample of 205 five-year-old children. According to questionnaires filled out by parents, 30 percent of the children experienced sleep-disordered breathing, defined as habitual snoring, loud or noisy breathing when asleep or witnessed sleep apnea.

When the children were tested, general intellectual ability appeared to be significantly worse in those with sleep-disordered breathing.

The difference in IQ seen with the condition was “more than twice that associated with ... modest childhood lead exposure,” Gottlieb’s team points out in the Journal of Pediatrics.

Other measures that were significantly worse included scores on memory tests, attention/executive functioning and behavioral control.

SOURCE: Journal of Pediatrics, October 2004.

RELATED STORIES:
Mom better than dad at soothing baby’s pain: study   Attention disorder rising among older children   Benefits of adenotonsillectomy persist in kids   Future Continues to Brighten for Children with Velocardiofacial Syndrome   Infection Control Intervention Helps Keep Kids in School   H1N1 Flu: Are Parents Underestimating Risk to Kids?   Surgery Safe for Babies & Toddlers Suffering from Seizures   Researchers discover age of onset of puberty predicts adult osteoporosis risk   Parents’ physical inactivity influences children   What Does My Child’s Sneeze Mean?   Drug helps treat dehydration in children: study   Children who watch TV more likely to bully-study

Comments

[ + Post Your Own ]

Now you're in the public comment zone. What follows is not Armenian Medical Network's stuff; it comes from other people and we don't vouch for it. A reminder: By using this Web site you agree to accept our Terms of Service. Click here to read the Rules of Engagement.

There are no comments for this entry yet. [ + Comment here + ]