Sleep disordered breathing in children with cerebral palsy

- Sleep disordered breathing (SDB) is a problem that causes serious morbidity and, on rare occasions, death.
- The present study found that 18.1% of the patients with CP had sleep-related breathing disorder (SRBD).
- SDB problems should be identified in patients with CP, by using the Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire.

ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to investigate the frequency of Sleep Disordered Breathing (SDB) in children with Cerebral Palsy (CP), and determine whether a relationship between SDB and age, gender, weight status, type of CP, motor function level, and spasticity can be established.MethodsThe study included 94 children with CP and 94 healthy children with normal development, between the ages two and 18. SDB was assessed using the Sleep-Related Breathing Disorder (SRBD) scale of the Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire (PSQ).ResultsNo statistically significant difference was found with respect to age and gender between the study and the control groups. It was found that 9.6% of the patients with CP had snoring, 12.8% had sleepiness, 37.2% had attention deficiency-hyperactivity, and 18.1% had SRBD. SRBD was statistically significantly higher in patients with CP compared with the control group. No significant relationship was detected between SRBD and age, gender, weight status, type of CP, motor function level, spasticity, and epilepsy.ConclusionsOur result confirm that SDB is more common in children with CP than typically developing children. Thus, SDB problems should be identified in routine clinical practice in patients with CP, by using the SRBD scale of the PSQ.