Risk Factors For Sleep Apnea In Children: Waist Size And Body Mass Index
June 8, 2009 by admin
Filed under Sleep Apnea News
Brain development of the child is extremely crucial as most of the hard-wiring is done before the child is 10 years of age. Children learn at accelerated rates and most internalization of new knowledge is done while asleep. Hence, sleep apnea at a young age essentially jeopardizes a child’s intellectual development.
A possible approach to resolving sleep apnea in children is to encourage your child to lose weight (if he/she is overweight). This report proposes is that waist size and body mass index (BMI) are major risk factors for children with sleep apnea. In short, reducing an obese child’s weight can help in overcoming sleep apnea.
“A study in the June 1 issue of the journal SLEEP found that waist circumference and body mass index (BMI) are consistent, independent risk factors for all severity levels of sleep disordered breathing (SDB) in children, suggesting that as with adult SDB, metabolic factors are important risk factors for childhood SDB…”
For the full report: Risk Factors For Sleep Disordered Breathing In Children: Waist Size And Body Mass Index
