Neuropsychological and psychosocial function in children with a history of snoring or behavioral sleep problems.
OBJECTIVE
To compare neuropsychological and psychosocial function in children with a history of snoring, children with a history of behavioral sleep problems (BSP), children with both a history of snoring and BSP, and a group of control subjects.


METHODS
Families awaiting consultation for "sick" visits in 5 general practice clinics completed the Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children. A subset of children were categorized into groups: Snorers (n = 11), BSP (n = 13), Snorers+BSP (n = 9), and controls (n = 31). Children underwent psychological (Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence, Children's Memory Scale; Test of Everyday Attention and Auditory Continuous Performance Test) and psychosocial assessment (Child Behavior Checklist).


RESULTS
With analysis of variance, it was revealed that, compared with children in the BSP and control groups, those in the Snorers+BSP and Snorers groups showed reduced intelligence and attention scores. By contrast, compared with children in the Snorers and control groups, children in the Snorers+BSP and BSP groups reported reduced social competency, increased problematic behavior, and reduced memory scores. Children in the combination of Snorers+BSP group showed more deficits than children in all other groups.


CONCLUSIONS
In children, snoring and BSP, separately and together, are associated with impaired neuropsychological and psychosocial functioning. Furthermore, snoring and BSP are related to performance in disparate ways. Snoring was associated with intelligence and attention deficits, whereas BSP was associated with memory and behavioral deficits.
Centre for Sleep Research, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia. sarah.blunden@unisa.edu.au
Sarah
S
Blunden
Kurt
K
Lushington
Bernie
B
Lorenzen
James
J
Martin
Declan
D
Kennedy
D000293:Adolescent; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007175:Impulsive Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D007360:Intelligence; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D012913:Snoring / Q000523:psychology*; D012919:Social Behavior; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires