Snorer by Night, Attention Deficit by Day

Obstructed sleep-disordered breathing includes snoring, obstructive sleep apnea (or hypopnea), and obstructive hypoventilation.  These are commonly undetected problems thought to affect 2% to 3% of children.  Milder forms may affect as many as 10% to 36% of children ages 3-6 years. 

The authors of this article felt that if it could be shown that sleep-disordered breathing caused ADHD, then investigating sleep disorders might prove to be worthwhile in poorly performing first-graders.  The goal of this study was to assess the prevalence of sleep disordered breathing in 5-year old children and its association with problem behaviors. 

Subjects were 3019 5-year-old children in Eastern Massachusetts.  Parents were questioned about presence and intensity of snoring, daytime sleepiness and other signs of sleep-disordered breathing.   Parents were also questioned about their child’s behavior, such as aggression.  The Conner’s Parent Rating Scale was also completed. 

A strong association was found between sleep-disordered breathing and problem behaviors.  These associations remained significant after adjustment for sex, race, maternal education, household income, and respiratory health history of the child. 

(Gottleib DJ, et al.  Pediatrics 2003; 112:870-872.)

Comment:  Both sleeping history and the history of behavior problems came from parents in this study, making the results a little suspect.  However, because these findings confirm what others have found, there is likely something to this.    –H.T.