Snoring Link to Anxiety, Depression in Preschoolers
Children who are between three and six years old who snore are more likely to have symptoms of anxiety and depression than children who do not snore. In addition, these children have more attention and language problems.
These are the results of a Finnish study of 89 preschool age children, 43 of which snored at least once a week according to their parents. The researchers, led by Dr. Eeva T. Aronen, of Helsinki University Central Hospital, found a higher rate of mood problems among the snorers, especially mood problems such as symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Another finding of the study is that children who snore are more likely to have other sleep problems also, such as nightmares, talking in their sleep, or difficulties going to bed. Tests of brain function also showed some significant differences between the snorers and non-snorers, including decreased attention and language skills among children who snored.
“Our study brings out snoring as a possible risk factor for mood problems and cognitive impairment in preschool-aged children,” said Dr. Aronen. “Overall, 22 percent of snoring children had mood disorder symptoms severe enough to warrant clinical evaluation, compared to 11 percent of the children who did not snore.”
“Surprisingly and against our expectations, behavioral types of problems, such as aggressive and hyperactive behavior, were no more frequent among preschool-aged children who snored in this study,” Aronen added.
Snoring is a common symptom of sleep-disordered breathing, which is caused by obstruction of the upper airway during sleep. Knowing the mental health and developmental impact of sleep-disordered breathing in preschool-aged children will help pediatricians and other health care professionals recognize the underlying sleep problem, Aronen and colleagues believe. “This makes intervening possible before underachieving at school or before more difficult emotional and/or behavioral symptoms develop,” they wrote in their report.
The findings of the study were published in the in the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics.
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