Behavioral issues in children may be linked to snoring, according to the findings of a new study publishing recently in the journal Pediatrics.

Young children who snore at night usually have some kind of breathing problem, such as sleep apnea or asthma. Sleep apnea is when a child appears to stop breath for several seconds at a time during sleep. While a pediatric pulmonologist can help to treat these types of conditions, behavioral issues may be out of the pedriciatian’s hands.

The association between behavior and breathing problems has been discovered before this study; however, the researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York examined it more in depth by following more than 13,000 children from infancy to the age of seven.  Of the study group, 45 percent of the parents reported that their children did not experience breathing problems at night, the remaining 55 did. The researchers found that children sleep-disordered breathing problems were more likely to develop behavioral or emotional problems and disorders, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, by the age of seven. Children with the highest risks for disorders were those that experienced the worse degree of breathing problems while sleeping.

While the research was based on questionnaires from parents only, the findings may have important implications for pediatric pulmonology specialists and child physiologists.

Continue Reading