The Consequences Of Child Sleep Apnea
Unfortunately, sleep apnea also affects little children like it afflicts adults. It is really a bad time for infants and toddlers to become affected by child sleep apnea. This is because it is the prime time for a child's overall development. Sleep apnea affects the development of children adversely.
Children affected by the disease are beset by behavioral and emotional issues. This is because the sleep of little children is disturbed time and again by sleep apnea in a single sleep session. Continuous sleep is very important for the development of babies and infants. When baby sleep apnea strikes the little patients, their sleep cycle is disturbed. As a result they tend to become restless because of the breathing difficulties typical of sleep apnea.
Sleep apnea can be fatal to babies and infants. The risk of sleep apnea in pre-term babies is more than in term babies. Certain risk factors affect babies more to cause sleep apnea in them. They include hemorrhage in the brain during delivery and exposure to poison or to drugs. They also include the brain not being in a position to control breathing properly or certain birth defects in babies.
Low blood sugar and blockage of airways also constitute potential risk factors towards sleep apnea in babies and infants. Infant sleep apnea may be caused by gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD) and anemia. Pediatric sleep apnea may be of obstructive type or central type or even a combination of the two. Central sleep apnea (CSA) occurs in new born babies when the central nervous system is unable to transmit the brain signal to the lungs to breathe during sleep. In contrast, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) occurs in a child due to physical blockage of the upper airway passage. Such obstruction occurs most often due to enlarged tonsils and adenoids in toddlers and older children. In contrast such obstruction in newborns and infants is due to neurologic immaturity due to which the airway musculature becomes blocked. In some children, a combination of CSA and OSA has been found to occur. This form of sleep apnea in children is known as mixed apnea. School going children beset by sleep apnea face learning issues and fall behind the class. Such children may often sleep in class. As their night time sleep has been disturbed time and again by apnea. Concentration is lacking in such children. Surprisingly such children are found to be hyperactive. They become prime candidates for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and long-term behavioral issues. Delayed mental development is a fall out of sleep apnea in children. Impaired physical growth, poor academic performance, day time sleepiness, and social, emotional, and behavioral problems are some of the other issues that such children face. However, child sleep apnea responds well to treatment when administered at the right time. The treatment helps improve the quality of life of the children markedly. Surgery is often the main line of children as the treatment for OSA.
Sleep Apnea
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