Obstructive sleep apnoea is associated with impaired pictorial memory task acquisition and retention in children

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Sleep Medicine
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Child Psychology

Background:

• Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is a prevalent condition in children.
• Cognitive deficits are increasingly recognized in children with OSA.
• The impact of OSA on specific memory functions, particularly pictorial memory, requires further elucidation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) and the acquisition and recall of pictorial-based memory tasks in children.
• To compare the learning and memory performance of children with OSA to age- and sex-matched controls.

Main Methods:

• A cohort of 54 children diagnosed with OSA and 17 healthy controls underwent overnight polysomnography.
• Participants completed a 15-minute pictorial memory task involving four learning trials.
• Memory retention was assessed via immediate free recall and delayed recall upon awakening the following morning.

Main Results:

• Children with OSA exhibited significantly higher obstructive apnoea/hypopnoea indices compared to controls.
• Learning scores across the four trials were significantly lower in children with OSA.
• Both immediate and overnight recall performances were notably worse in the OSA group, with a decline in recall absent in controls.

Conclusions:

• Obstructive sleep apnoea significantly impairs the acquisition and retention of newly learned pictorial information in children.
• Children with OSA demonstrate deficits in both learning new material and recalling it over time.
• These findings underscore the detrimental effects of OSA on cognitive functions, specifically memory, in pediatric populations.