Altered Regional Brain Cortical Thickness in Pediatric Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Pediatric Medicine
• Radiology

Background:

• Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) affects 2-5% of children, causing cognitive and behavioral deficits linked to poor school performance.
• Preliminary findings suggest brain injury, specifically reduced gray matter volume, in pediatric OSA patients.
• Cortical function is closely related to psychological deficits, yet specific cortical areas in pediatric OSA have not been assessed.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if cortical thickness is altered in children diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).
• To investigate cortical thickness as a potential marker of brain injury in pediatric OSA.

Main Methods:

• Utilized high-resolution T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to examine regional brain cortical thicknesses.
• Compared cortical thickness in 16 pediatric OSA patients against 138 healthy controls from the NIH Pediatric MRI database.

Main Results:

• Observed cortical thinning in several regions, including the superior frontal, ventral medial prefrontal, and superior parietal cortices.
• Noted greater thinning in the superior frontal cortex on the left side.
• Identified cortical thickening in the bilateral precentral gyrus, mid-to-posterior insular cortices, left central gyrus, and right anterior insula.

Conclusions:

• Cortical thickness changes in children with OSA suggest disruptions in neural developmental processes, including maturation and synaptic pruning.
• Thicker cortical regions may indicate inflammation or astrocyte activation.
• Both cortical thinning and thickening in pediatric OSA may contribute to observed cognitive and behavioral dysfunction.