PAP Treatment of Sleep Apnea Improves Behavior

Treatment of sleep apnea in children and teenagers using positive airway pressure (PAP) improves neurobehavioral function after 3 months, despite suboptimal adherence, a new study found. 

Symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, sleepiness, behavior, and quality of life all showed improvements after 3 months of PAP use, reported Carole Marcus, MBBCh, of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and colleagues. 

"These improvements occurred despite a mean use of only 3 hours per night, suggesting that clinicians should encourage any PAP use, and not be discouraged when adherence is suboptimal," the researchers wrote.

Improvements measured by the Epworth Sleepiness Scale were directly related to the frequency of adherence, while other neurobehavioral outcomes were not.   

"One reason for the lack of correlation between PAP use and other neurobehavioral outcomes in the current study may be the difference in physiologic sleep requirements over the age spectrum studied, and the differing degree of baseline neurobehavioral function in the subjects," the authors wrote.

"Thus, the effects of wearing CPAP for 4 hours a night may be less beneficial in a 2-year-old sleeping for 12 hours a night than in a 16-year-old sleeping 8 hours a night."

-Michael Potts