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Sleep Disordered Breathing Severity Alters Overnight Temperature Changes in Children

Georgina Plunkett1, Marisha Shetty1, Maria Vaz-Serra1

  • 1Department of Paediatrics, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.

Journal of Sleep Research
|March 29, 2026
PubMed

Insights

Skin temperature monitoring is feasible during pediatric polysomnography. Children with moderate/severe obstructive sleep apnea show altered temperature regulation compared to those with milder conditions.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Sleep Medicine
  • Physiology
  • Biomedical Engineering

Background:

  • Sleep quality is closely linked to body temperature fluctuations.
  • Assessing body temperature during sleep studies in children is important for understanding sleep-related disorders.
  • Previous research has not fully explored skin temperature variations in relation to sleep disordered breathing severity in pediatric populations.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the feasibility of measuring skin temperature in children during polysomnography.
  • To investigate differences in body temperature regulation between children with varying severities of sleep disordered breathing.
  • To analyze the distal-proximal temperature gradient as an indicator of thermoregulation during sleep.

Main Methods:

  • Skin temperature was measured at proximal (chest) and distal (feet) sites using Thermochron iButtons in 63 children (aged 6-11.9 years) undergoing polysomnography.
  • Children were categorized into primary snoring, Mild obstructive sleep apnea, and Moderate/Severe obstructive sleep apnea groups.
  • Distal skin temperature (T_distal) and the distal-proximal gradient (T_distal - T_proximal) were calculated.

Main Results:

  • Skin temperature measurements were successfully obtained in 93% of recruited children.
  • Children with primary snoring and Mild obstructive sleep apnea demonstrated typical distal vasodilation before sleep onset and vasoconstriction after sleep onset.
  • Children with Moderate/Severe obstructive sleep apnea showed no significant changes in distal temperature or gradient over time, with a slower rate of temperature change before sleep onset.

Conclusions:

  • Skin temperature measurement is feasible and practical during pediatric polysomnography.
  • Altered thermoregulation patterns, specifically blunted distal vasodilation/vasoconstriction, are observed in children with Moderate/Severe obstructive sleep apnea.
  • These findings suggest that body temperature regulation during sleep may be a useful biomarker for assessing the severity of sleep disordered breathing in children.

Keywords:
obstructive sleep apnoeapaediatric sleepperipheral skin temperature

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