Obstructive Sleep Apnea May Hinder Brain Development in Children

In a recent study, researchers found that children with moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) had extensive grey matter volume loss in areas that controlled cognition and mood functions compared with healthy children, although these reductions were “apparently independent of cognitive deficits.”

The study included 16 children with OSA and 9 children without OSA aged 7 to 11 years of age who underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) tests. Researchers compared the results of the MRIs with 191 MRIs of children without OSA from the NIH Pediatric MRI database.
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Their findings showed significant reductions in grey matter volume throughout areas of the superior frontal and prefrontal, and superior and lateral parietal cortices in children with OSA. In addition, other affected areas included the brainstem, ventral medial prefrontal cortices, and superior temporal lobe, predominately on the left side.

Because the participants’ onset of OSA was unknown, researchers noted that the results could be caused by either delayed neuronal development or neuronal damaging processes, or a combination of both. They could also reflect neuronal atrophy or reductions in cellular volume.

“In the contextual setting that OSA is fraught with increased risks for a variety of end-organ morbidities, the mechanisms underlying such extensive MRI changes, the exact nature of the grey matter reductions and their potential reversibility remain virtually unexplored, and should prompt intensive future research efforts in this direction,” the researchers concluded.

—Melissa Weiss

Reference:

Philby MF, Macey PM, MA RA, Kumar R, Gozal D, and Kheirandish-Gozal L. Reduced regional grey matter volumes in pediatric obstructive sleep apnea [published online March 17, 2017]. Sci Rep. doi:10.1038/srep44566.