Abstract

We report aspects of sleep-disordered breathing in a cohort of achondroplastic children who attended our hospital. A retrospective chart review was conducted for a 15-year period to further evaluate the diagnosis and treatment of sleep-disordered breathing in children with achondroplasia. A review of the medical records was undertaken for 46 children (63, mean age 3.9 years) with achondroplasia that had overnight polysomnography. Among them, 25 (54.3) had obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). For 19 out of 46 patients (follow-up rate, 41.3) with a mean follow-up of 31.3 months (range, 3 month to 11 years), 13 had undergone adenotonsillectomy, while nine were treated with continuous positive airway pressure. Prospective evaluation of our clinic population confirms a high incidence of SDB in achondroplastic children. OSA has been linked to raise intracranial pressure as well as neurocognitive deficits in children and we hypothesize that associations between neurological and respiratory abnormalities in this disorder are a consequence of the early onset of associated respiratory, rather than the neurological complications.