Sleep apnea is a very common sleep disorder which now affects in the region of 18,000,000 people in the USA alone. This figure is approximately 1 in 15 or 6.62% of the population and does not take into consideration an additional 2% to 4% of the population who are thought to have sleep apnea but who are as yet undiagnosed.
However, what many people do not realize is that there are also an amazingly large and increasing number of children who are suffering from sleep apnea, with estimates showing that something over 2% of all children suffer from obstructive sleep apnea.
In the case of children sleep apnea requires particularly close attention as at this critical stage of growth and development the condition can result in learning, memory and IQ problems.
In many cases obstructive sleep apnea arises in no small measure from being overweight and the first line of attack in treating the problem is thus to shed a bit of weight. This however may not be as easy as it sounds and does not always ease the problem enough.
The next step for many children is the use of an oral appliance while sleeping. These oral appliances have to be custom made and fitted by a qualified orthodontist and are intended to hold the lower jaw in a position that makes sure that the throat is kept open during sleep. Improvement is once again sometimes less than satisfactory with an oral appliance and many children are far from happy wearing them.
The best method when it comes to treating obstructive sleep apnea is the CPAP machine which delivers a steady stream of air by way of a mask that the child wears during sleep sleeping and which maintains an open airway.
CPAP machines have proved to be extremely successful but, as with any treatment, they will only produce good results when they are used properly and here we encounter a problem with children.
In a recent study several children having CPAP treatment were monitored for 6 months to establish how closely they followed the medical advice given for the use of their CPAP machines. The children were subjected to sleep studies at the beginning and end of the study period and they and their parents were questioned by researchers about their use of the machines. Additionally, the machines used in the study were equipped with meters to record the use of the machines.
The study found that over 75% of the children did not make use of their machines every night and that even the relatively small number of children who used the machines every night were using them for only about 5 hours each night which was not sufficient to gain the full benefit from their use. Perhaps most importantly, taking into consideration the fact that a significant number of the children being studied were very young and thus required parental supervision to ensure the proper use of the machines, the study showed that the overwhelming majority of parents overestimated their child’s use of the system by about two hours every night.
At this stage, though it is clear that children are not enjoying the maximum benefit of CPAP treatment, it is not clear just why they are failing to use the system properly and additional studies are underway to see what improvements can be made for treating obstructive sleep apnea in children.