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Resting energy expenditure, oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production during sleep in children with atopic

K L E Hon1, T F Leung, K C Ma

  • 1Department of Paediatrics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, Hong Kong, SAR, China. ecohen@cuhk.edu.hk

The Journal of Dermatological Treatment
|May 18, 2005
PubMed

Insights

Children with atopic dermatitis (AD) show no significant changes in resting energy expenditure (REE) or metabolic gas exchange during sleep, regardless of disease severity. These metabolic parameters do not correlate with pruritus or sleep disturbances in pediatric AD.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Dermatology
  • Sleep Medicine
  • Metabolic Physiology

Background:

  • Atopic dermatitis (AD) significantly impacts children's quality of life, with pruritus and scratching being primary symptoms.
  • Moderate-to-severe AD can disrupt sleep and growth in affected children.
  • The study investigates the impact of AD severity on metabolic parameters during sleep.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate if resting energy expenditure (REE), oxygen consumption (VO2), and carbon dioxide production (VCO2) during sleep are affected by atopic dermatitis severity in children.
  • To determine the correlation between these metabolic parameters and disease severity indices.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized polysomnography to monitor sleep stages and measure REE, VO2, and VCO2.
  • Assessed disease severity using the Scoring Atopic Dermatitis (SCORAD) index.
  • Recruited 20 children with AD and 8 healthy controls.

Main Results:

  • Children with severe AD (SCORAD > 40) exhibited lower total sleep efficiency compared to controls (72% vs. 88%, p=0.039).
  • No significant differences in REE, VO2, or VCO2 were observed across various sleep stages between severe AD patients and controls.
  • Metabolic parameters did not correlate with SCORAD scores or its components.

Conclusions:

  • Pediatric atopic dermatitis does not appear to cause significant disturbances in resting energy expenditure or metabolic gas exchange during sleep.
  • Metabolic functions during sleep do not correlate with the severity of AD symptoms like pruritus or sleep disturbance.
  • Deranged sleep metabolism is unlikely to be a contributing factor in pediatric atopic dermatitis.
Abstract

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