Mood is associated with snoring in preschool-aged children

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Sleep Medicine
• Child Psychology
• Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Background:

• Snoring in children is common and can be associated with sleep disordered breathing (SDB).
• The impact of snoring on emotional, behavioral, and cognitive development in young children requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare emotional and behavioral problems, sleep quality, and cognitive performance between snoring and nonsnoring children aged 3 to 6 years.
• To identify potential links between snoring and developmental outcomes in preschool-aged children.

Main Methods:

• A clinical study involving 43 snoring and 46 nonsnoring children aged 3-6 years.
• Parental completion of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL).
• Neuropsychological assessments including the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence, Revised, and NEPSY-A subtests for attention, language, sensorimotor, memory, and learning.

Main Results:

• Snoring children exhibited significantly more parent-reported internalizing symptoms, particularly anxious/depressed mood and emotional reactivity.
• A higher percentage of snoring children scored in the subclinical or clinical range for internalizing symptoms compared to nonsnorers.
• The snoring group performed worse on auditory attention and language skills (verbal IQ) tests.
• Snoring children also reported more sleep problems beyond snoring.

Conclusions:

• Snoring, indicative of potential sleep disordered breathing (SDB), is associated with increased internalizing emotional symptoms in young children.
• Impaired cognitive functions, specifically in attention and language, are observed in children who snore.
• SDB should be considered a risk factor for mood disorders and cognitive deficits in childhood.