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Sleep characteristics in children with Down syndrome

A Levanon1, A Tarasiuk, A Tal

  • 1Sleep Wake Disorders Unit, Department of Physiology, and Department of Pediatrics and Pediatric Pulmonary Unit, Soroka Medical Center, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.

The Journal of Pediatrics
|June 4, 1999
PubMed

Insights

Children with Down syndrome (DS) experience significant sleep fragmentation, including frequent arousals and awakenings. These sleep disturbances are only partly linked to obstructive sleep apnea syndrome in DS patients.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Sleep Medicine
  • Genetics and Sleep Disorders

Background:

  • Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome is prevalent in children with Down syndrome (DS).
  • Limited understanding exists regarding specific sleep patterns, particularly arousals, awakenings, and movements, in children with DS.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To characterize sleep disorders in children with DS.
  • To investigate the relationship between respiratory disturbances and sleep events like arousals, awakenings, and movements in children with DS.

Main Methods:

  • A sleep study was conducted on 23 children with DS.
  • A comparison group of 13 children with primary snoring was included.
  • Sleep patterns were monitored over 6- to 8-hour periods.

Main Results:

  • Children with DS exhibited a significantly higher respiratory disturbance index compared to controls.
  • Sleep in children with DS was markedly fragmented, with a higher arousal/awakening (A/Aw) index.
  • Increased occurrences of jerks associated with A/Aw and respiratory events were noted in the DS group, alongside shorter stage 2 sleep and more shifts to lighter sleep stages.

Conclusions:

  • Children with Down syndrome demonstrate significant sleep fragmentation.
  • Frequent awakenings and arousals contribute to sleep fragmentation in DS.
  • The observed sleep fragmentation is only partially attributable to obstructive sleep apnea syndrome in this population.
Abstract

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