Outcomes from the Tucson Children's Assessment of Sleep Apnea Study

Abstract

Sleep disordered breathing (SDB) is increasingly recognized as an important clinical problem in children. However, the clinical, anatomic and physiologic correlates of SDB have not been extensively studied in a general population sample using polysomnography to document the presence of SDB. The Tucson Children's Assessment of Sleep Apnea Study (TuCASA) is a longitudinal cohort study of 503 6-12 year old Caucasian and Hispanic children who underwent polysomnography and neurocognitive testing at the time of recruitment. Subsets of the cohort had additional MRI imaging and pulmonary physiologic testing. Initial cross-sectional analyses indicate that SDB is associated with behavioral abnormalities, hypertension, learning problems and clinical symptoms such as snoring and excessive daytime sleepiness. Future follow-up of the cohort will assess the impact of SDB on subsequent childhood development.