The relationship between body position and obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome in children

OBJECTIVE In adults, sleep apnea is worse when the patient is in the supine position. However, the relationship between sleep position and obstructive apnea in children is unknown. The objec- tive of this study is to evaluate the relationship between obstructive apnea and body position during sleep in chi ldren. METH ODS Anal ysis the overnight polysomnography results of 60 obstructive sleep ap- nea hypopnea syndrome children associated with adenotonsillar hypertrophy. Compare the differences of major sleep index between supine and non-supine positions.RESULTS Children had a higher AHI with supine position than that with non-supine position. The lowest arterial oxygen saturation is higher with non- supine position than that with supine position(P 0.01). There were no differences in apnea and/or hypopnea duration between supine and non-supine positions (P 0.05). CONCLUSION Children with obstructive sleep apnea breathe better in non-supine position. Non-su- pine position couldn’t improve all of the upper airway obstructive symptoms of OSAHS children. Operation (adenoidtonsillectomy) is the best way for OSAHS children. [