title: Osteopathy may decrease obstructive apnea in infants: a pilot study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Obstructive apnea is a sleep disorder characterized by pauses in breathing during sleep: breathing is interrupted by a physical block to airflow despite effort. The purpose of this study was to test if osteopathy could influence the incidence of obstructive apnea during sleep in infants.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-four healthy infants (age: 1.5-4.0 months) were recruited and randomized in two groups; six infants dropped out. The osteopathy treatment group (n = 15 infants) received 2 osteopathic treatments in a period of 2 weeks and a control group (n = 13 infants) received 2 non-specific treatments in the same period of time. The main outcome measure was the change in the number of obstructive apneas measured during an 8-hour polysomnographic recording before and after the two treatment sessions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results of the second polysomnographic recordings showed a significant decrease in the number of obstructive apneas in the osteopathy group (p = 0.01, Wilcoxon test), in comparison to the control group showing only a trend suggesting a gradual physiologic decrease of obstructive apneas. However, the difference in the decline of obstructive apneas between the groups after treatment was not significant (p = 0.43).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Osteopathy may have a positive influence on the incidence of obstructive apneas during sleep in infants with a previous history of obstructive apneas as measured by polysomnography. Additional research in this area appears warranted.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel Kinderen, Brussels, Belgium. yvan.vandenplas@uzbrussel.be.
authors.forename: Yvan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Vandenplas
authors.forename: Etienne
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Denayer
authors.forename: Thierry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Vandenbossche
authors.forename: Luc
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vermet
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hauser
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Deschepper
authors.forename: Agnes
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Engelen