Serum nitrite and nitrate levels in children with obstructive sleep-disordered breathing.
BACKGROUND
Diminished nitric oxide (NO) levels have been reported in adults with obstructive sleep apnea but no data are available for children with obstructive sleep-disordered breathing (SDB).


OBJECTIVE
To assess levels of serum NO metabolites in children with SDB and to explore the effects of NO metabolites, SDB and their interaction on blood pressure.


METHODS
Morning nitrite, the sum of nitrite and nitrate (NO(x)), and the average of evening and morning blood pressure were assessed in children with SDB referred for polysomnography and in controls without SDB.


RESULTS
Forty-three children with SDB (age: 5.8+/-2.1 years) had moderate-to-severe nocturnal hypoxemia (SpO(2) nadir: 85.6+/-4%), 54 subjects (6.6+/-2.7 years) had mild hypoxemia (SpO(2) nadir: 91.4+/-1.3%) and 20 subjects were controls free of SDB (6.7+/-3.7 years). Subjects with moderate-to-severe hypoxemia had significantly lower ln-transformed NO metabolites (1.4+/-0.7, nitrites; 2.6+/-0.5, NO(x)) compared to those with mild hypoxemia (1.9+/-0.8, nitrites; 3+/-0.6, NO(x)) and controls (2.2+/-0.7, nitrite; 3+/-0.6, NO(x); p<0.05). The effects of NO metabolites and SDB or their interaction on blood pressure were not significant (p>0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Moderate-to-severe hypoxemia accompanying SDB is associated with reduced concentrations of morning serum NO metabolites, but NO levels do not seem to affect blood pressure.
Sleep Disorders Laboratory, University of Thessaly School of Medicine, Larissa, Greece. KADITIA@hotmail.com
Athanasios
A
Kaditis
Emmanouel
E
Alexopoulos
Georgia
G
Ntamagka
Konstantinos
K
Chaidas
Anastasia
A
Karathanasi
Sofia
S
Gougoura
Afroditi A
AA
Papathanasiou
Panagiotis
P
Liakos
Elias
E
Zintzaras
Konstantinos
K
Gourgoulianis
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D000860:Hypoxia / Q000097:blood / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D009566:Nitrates / Q000097:blood*; D009573:Nitrites / Q000097:blood*; D017286:Polysomnography; D020181:Sleep Apnea, Obstructive / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
D009566:Nitrates; D009573:Nitrites