Sleep Symptoms and Polysomnographic Patterns of Obstructive Sleep Apnea in Obese Children.

OBJECTIVE

This study was conducted to investigate the sleep symptoms and polysomnographic patterns of obstructive sleep apnea in overweight and obese children.

METHODS

Overweight or obese children aging 6-18 yr old referred during 2010 to Endocrinology Clinic of Ghods Hospital in Ghazvin, central Iran were enrolled in the study. Polysomnography was done for the diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea and the BEARS and Children's Sleep Habits questionnaires were used to survey sleep behaviors.

RESULTS

We enrolled 30 children (14 males, 16 females). Twenty-one cases had body mass index (BMI) >95% and 9 had 85%

CONCLUSIONS

Prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea is high among overweight and obese children. Physicians should be familiar with its manifestations and consider polysomnography as an invaluable diagnostic test. There was no relation between the degree of obesity and severity of obstructive sleep apnea.