Weight, Bedwetting Linked to Sleep Apnea in Children
According to a recent study, children who are overweight and wet the bed at night may have obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).
Researchers found that children that were overweight and wet the bed had a higher incidence of OSA. On the other hand, being overweight and bed wetting were not found to be associated with each other.
Dr. Joseph G. Barone, of Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, New Jersey, led the “case-control” study. Dr. Barone and colleagues conducted overnight sleep studies with 149 children between the ages of 5 and 15 with OSA, matched with 139 control children.
The analysis combined the data from the sleep studies with information from medical records, including age, gender, height, weight, frequency of bed wetting, history of snoring, diabetes, nasal allergies, and/or enlarged tonsils.
According to Dr. Barone and his team, there was a significant relationship between both bed wetting and overweight, and OSA.
Bedwetting increased the likelihood of obstructive sleep apnea more than five times and being overweight raised the likelihood of obstructive sleep apnea more than four times. The researchers did note, however, that these associations are independent of each other.
The researchers suggest that physicians consider OSA in overweight children who wet the bed, particularly when they exhibit other symptoms of OSA or are unsuccessful with standard bed wetting treatment programs.
The results of the study were published in the July issue of journal Pediatrics.
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