Clinical Analysis of Sleep Disorders in Korean Children / 대한소아신경학회지

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Sleep disorders are one of the most common neurologic conditions in children and adolescents. They have an important impact on quality of their life, such as physical, psychosocial and emotional problems. This study was aimed to investigate clinical and polysomnographic features of sleep disorders in Korean children and adolescents. METHODS: Thirty two patients with sleep disorders were involved in the study. Their medical records and polysomnographs(PSG) were retrospectively reviewed. RESULTS: The mean age was 10.1+/-4.2 years, and the male to female ratio was 2.6. Chief complaints included abnormal movement during sleep(n=12, 37.5%), snoring with sleep apnea(n=9, 28.1%), excessive daytime sleepiness(n=8, 25.0%). Among 12 patients who showed abnormal behaviors during the sleep, 7 patients were diagnosed as parasomnia and 4 patients as epilepsy, 1 as sleep apnea by polysomnographic findings. Eight out of nine patients with sleep apnea and snoring revealed increased apnea-hypopnea index(AHI>1). As a result, 4 patients had tonsillectomy & adenoidectomy(T&A) and 2 patients had uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP) with good results. Among 8 patients with excessive daytime sleepiness, 4 patients were diagnosed with narcolepsy by PSG and multiple sleep latency test (MSLT). They were treated with modafinil and scheduled nap. CONCLUSION: In this study, we found there are various kinds of sleep disorders in Korean children and adolescents and PSG is still a very important diagnostic tool. However, further studies are needed to elucidate sleep disorders in them.