How to recognize sleep apnea in children ?.

How to recognize sleep apnea in children?

In Italy as many as 12 million people suffer from sleep disorders which are often associated with sleep apnea: difficulty falling asleep, frequent awakenings during the night, early awakenings in the morning and difficulty in returning to sleep. About 60% are women, while 20% of cases involve children and minors.

Daytime sleepiness

These figures would even have doubled in the year of the Covid-19 pandemic. In the majority of cases, the problems in sleeping at night turn into a sense of psycho-physical discomfort upon awakening and also the appearance of excessive daytime sleepiness (Esd), or the inability to stay awake properly during the day. Esd obviously worsens the quality of life: in adults, excessive daytime sleepiness increases the risk of road accidents, at home or at work, while in children it hinders learning and socialization.

The sleep apnea disorder

Excessive daytime sleepiness is often associated with obstructive sleep apnea, which affects approximately 1 billion people worldwide. In Italy, about 7 million people suffer from at least 5 sleep apnea per hour of sleep, while in the population aged between 30 and 69 there are 4 million with more than 15 apneas per hour of sleep. In pediatric age, the incidence is 5%.

Pauses in breathing during sleep, due to partial or total obstruction of the upper airways, are the main manifestation of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). A condition that generates particular clinical manifestations including daytime sleepiness, fatigue, attention deficit and memory, and is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular, neurological and metabolic diseases.

What are the symptoms

The main symptom of sleep apnea is certainly snoring, almost always very intense and, due to apnea, intermittent, daytime sleepiness, insomnia especially linked to early awakenings and the difficulty of getting back to sleep, fatigue and difficulty concentrating. nocturia (the tendency to get up at night due to the urge to urinate).

Among the causes, certainly obesity and overweight, but also some of an anatomical nature: for example, a small jaw, very abundant palates. Tonsils or adenoids can be the cause in childhood.

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