Abnormal interaction between cortical regions of obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome children

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Pediatric Sleep Medicine
• Biomarker Discovery

Background:

• Obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) in children impairs cognitive function.
• Understanding the neural network alterations in pediatric OSAHS is crucial for early diagnosis and intervention.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify potential electroencephalography (EEG) network biomarkers for pediatric obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome.
• To investigate differences in cortical information interaction and flow patterns between children with and without OSAHS.

Main Methods:

• Utilized symbolic transfer entropy to construct effective brain networks and assess cortical information interaction.
• Analyzed information flow patterns using cross-within variation and posterior-anterior information flow ratios.
• Compared EEG network parameters across sleep stages (N1, N2, N3, REM) in mild OSAHS, severe OSAHS, and healthy control groups.

Main Results:

• Pediatric OSAHS patients exhibited significantly higher symbolic transfer entropy in N1, N2, and REM stages (P<0.05) and lower in N3 stage (P<0.005) compared to controls.
• The β frequency band showed significantly lower cross-within variation across all sleep stages in the OSAHS group (P<0.05).
• Mild OSAHS children demonstrated significantly higher posterior-anterior information flow in the β frequency band during REM sleep (P<0.05).

Conclusions:

• Altered EEG network dynamics, specifically in information flow and transfer entropy, are characteristic of pediatric obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome.
• These distinct network patterns hold promise as potential biomarkers for diagnosing OSAHS in children.
• Findings offer novel insights into the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying cognitive deficits in pediatric OSAHS.