title: Gas exchange abnormality during sleep in non-snoring severe thalassemia children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the prevalence and associated factors of gas exchange abnormality during sleep in non-snoring severe thalassemia children.
  
  
  METHODS
  Non-snoring severe thalassemia children aged 6 to 15 years who had been followed up at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital between June 2009 and March 2010 were studied. Overnight pulse oximetry and end-tidal carbon dioxide tension (P(ET)CO2) monitoring as well as pulmonary function tests were evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fifty-eight non-snoring severe thalassemia children (aged 10.5 +/- 2.6 years, 43% male) were studied. 67.2% showed abnormal gas exchange during sleep. All of them had nocturnal desaturation (nadir SpO2 87 +/- 6.9%; range 65 to 94%). 33.3% of those who had nocturnal desaturation had associated lung function abnormality. Abnormal lung function was found in 32.8% of the present study patients. Of these, 68.4% had associated nocturnal desaturation. Age, gender nutritional status, size of liver and spleen, history of splenectomy, hemoglobin and serum ferritin level, and lung function were not associated with abnormal gas exchange during sleep.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Nocturnal desaturation was demonstrated in more than a half of non-snoring severe thalassemia children. Normal lung function did not guarantee normal gas exchange during sleep. However, more than a half of those who had lung function abnormality had associated nocturnal desaturation. Evaluation of gas exchange during sleep would be merited in this group of patients.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonology and Critical Care, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. ssritippayawan@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Suchada
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sritippayawan
authors.forename: Klaita
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sri-Singh
authors.forename: Issarang
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Nuchprayoon
authors.forename: Rujipat
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Samransamruajkit
authors.forename: Jitladda
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Deerojanawong
authors.forename: Nuanchan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Prapphal
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006935:Hypercapnia / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D010092:Oximetry; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood*; D015995:Prevalence; D011659:Pulmonary Gas Exchange / Q000502:physiology*; D012129:Respiratory Function Tests; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D013789:Thalassemia / Q000503:physiopathology*
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen