How Effective is CPAP In Terms Of The Treatment Of Childhood Sleep Apnea?

By: Donald Saunders
Submitted: 2007-11-30 14:51:08
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Sleep apnea is an increasingly common sleep problem which now affects in the region of 18 million people in America alone. This represents about 6.62% of the population which does not take into consideration an additional 2% to 4% of the population who are thought to be suffering from the condition but who are as yet undiagnosed.

What most people do not know however is that there are also a surprisingly large and rising number of children who suffer from sleep apnea, with estimates showing that in the region of 2% of all children suffer from sleep apnea.

When it comes to children sleep apnea warrants particularly close attention because at this critical stage of growth and development apnea can result in IQ, learning and memory difficulties.

In a lot of cases obstructive sleep apnea arises in no small measure from overweight and the first step in treating the condition is therefore to lose weight. This however might not be as simple as it sounds and does not always reduce the problem enough.

The next step for many children is the use of an oral appliance while sleeping. These oral appliances are custom made for the child and fitted by an orthodontist and are designed to keep the lower jaw in a position which makes sure that the throat remains open during sleep. Again improvement is not always satisfactory and many children are far from happy wearing them.

The best choice for treating sleep apnea is the CPAP machine which produces a steady stream of air by way of a mask which is worn during sleep sleeping and which keeps the airway open.

CPAP machines are very successful although, like any treatment, they will only produce good results when they are used properly and this is where we encounter a particular problem with children.

In a recent study a number of children undergoing CPAP treatment were monitored for 6 months to establish just how closely they followed the medical advice given for using their CPAP machines. The children were subjected to sleep studies at the start and end of the evaluation period and they and their parents were questioned by researchers about their use of the machines. In addition, the machines which were used for the evaluation were all fitted with meters to record the use of the machines.

The study found that more than 75% of the children did not use their machines as intended every night and that even the relatively small number of children who used their machines consistently were using the machines for only about 5 hours each night which was not enough to get the full benefit from their use. Possibly most importantly, bearing in mind the fact that a significant number of the children being studied were very young and thus needed supervision to ensure the correct use of their machines, the study discovered that the overwhelming majority of parents overestimated the use of the system by about two hours each night.

At this point, despite the fact that it is clear that children are not receiving the maximum benefit of CPAP treatment, it remains unclear exactly why they are failing to use the system correctly and additional studies are being conducted to see just what improvements are possible for the treatment of childhood sleep apnea.

Article source: Expert Articles