New Research: Urine Test on Children to Determine Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA)
Rose knows that the University of Chicago has found a method to determine if children have obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) or habitual snoring by testing their urine. Obstructive sleep apnea is a sleep disorder that causes a person to stop breathing during the night for a few seconds to a minute. A simple urine test could uncover if children that snore have obstructive sleep apnea and reduce the need for costly sleep analysis and inopportune sleep studies, as 20 to 30 percent of the children that snore actually have OSA. The results of this study are published in the December 15 issue of the American Thoracic Society's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
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90 children were studied at the University of Chicago and the University of Louisville, they were tested at a sleep clinic to be monitored and assessed for a breathing sleep disorder. To make this study more controlled, they also tested 30 non-snoring candidates from the surrounding community. All the children underwent a routine polysomnography or monitored for a sleep disorder overnight and then were classified as either having; obstructive sleep apnea, habitual snoring or no sleep disorder.
A sample of the children's urine was taken the morning after the sleep study. Using a new highly develop electrophoresis system to screen the many urine proteins concurrently, researchers found that the number of proteins were different in the children that had obstructive sleep apnea compared to the ones that habitually snored and those that were healthy. This breakthrough will allow for a simple diagnosis of obstuctive sleep apena in the future.
In studies it has revealed that one in three percent of all children ages 0 to 9 suffer from OSA, while up to 12% experience habitual snoring. Due to the many health problems that are associated with obstructive sleep apnea such as; cognitive, behavioral, cardiovascular and metabolic effects in children, distinguishing it from habitual snoring is vital. Children with OSA usually have their tonsils and adenoids removed and many may still need a CPAP after surgery. CPAP, a machine with a mouth piece that is worn during the night, will help children by applying forced air through the passage way to lessen any obstruction. If you feel your child has a sleep disorder such as obstructive sleep apena because he snores contact your pediatrician for a urine test. He may recommend a sleep specialist or a sleep study to determine further treatment.
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