Sleep apnea treatment helps Texas child with night terrors

This article tells the story of one Texas child whose night terrors were helped by sleep apnea treatment.

Sleep apnea is a serious sleep disorder that occurs when a persons sleep is interrupted by their breathing being paused. In many cases sleep apnea goes undiagnosed and it's very common among children.

One family shares their battle with us, we were introduced to the Weedon family of Longview.
Six-year-old Emma was not sleeping through the night since she was nine-months old, waking up sometimes every 30 minutes, she was having night terrors and it was giving her anxiety.

"Her mother Misty Weedon noticed that Emma had some difficulty staying still in her Pre-K school," said Dr .RV Ghuge, Sleep Medicine Institute of Texas. "We were starting kindergarten and I was afraid that someone was going to try to look at her and say that she had ADHD."

After several visits with their pediatrician the Weedon family just figured to contact Dr. Ghuge with the Sleep Medicine Institute of Texas. "Her parents just refused to allow her to be on medications for that, they wanted to explore other alternatives and look at root cause of these problems and they were convinced that sleep was the problem," said Dr. Ghuge.

A sleep test showed what was happening when Emma closed her eyes for bedtime was irregular, from her breathing pattern, teeth grinding and moaning. Emma was diagnosed with sleep apnea a little over a year ago.

She has to wear a CPAP breathing mask while she sleeps, every night. "I put it on and breathe through it and I have better dreams," said little Emma.

"When we did her sleep test she has shown tremendous improvement in her breathing at night and her teeth grinding and the oxygen that she was losing before," said Dr. Ghuge.

"She wasn't growing, since she's been on her CPAP she's grown three inches and that's been in the past year," said Misty Weedon.

After treating her sleep disorder Emma can sleep eight to nine hours.

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What treatment for sleep apnea is better in children:CPAP or BiPAP?

What treatment for sleep apnea is better in children:CPAP or BiPAP? Which treatment works better? The study shows that neither CPAP nor BiPAP are superior. JR

Randomized, Double-Blind Clinical Trial of Two Different Modes of Positive Airway Pressure Therapy on Adherence and Efficacy in Children

Carole L. Marcus, M.B.B.Ch.,¹ Suzanne E. Beck, M.D.,¹ Joel Traylor, R.Psg.T.,¹ Mary Anne Cornaglia,¹ Lisa J. Meltzer, Ph.D.,² Natalie DiFeo, C.R.N.P.,¹ Laurie R. Karamessinis, R.PFT.,¹ John Samuel, R.Psg.T.,¹ Jennifer Falvo, B.S.,¹ Michelle DiMaria, R.Psg.T.,¹ Paul R. Gallagher, M.A.,³ Heidi Beris, B.S.N.,¹ and Mary Kate Menello, B.S.N.¹

Abstract

Study Objectives:

To determine the effects of bilevel positive airway pressure with pressure release technology (Bi-Flex) on adherence and efficacy in children and adolescents compared to standard continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy. We hypothesized that Bi-Flex would result in improved adherence but similar efficacy to CPAP.

Methods:

This was a randomized, double-blinded clinical trial. Patients with obstructive sleep apnea were randomized to CPAP or Bi-Flex. Repeat polysomnography was performed on pressure at 3 months. Objective adherence data were obtained at 1 and 3 months.

Results:

56 children and adolescents were evaluated. There were no significant differences in the number of nights the device was turned on, or the mean number of minutes used at pressure per night for CPAP vs Bi-Flex (24 ± 6 vs 22 ± 9 nights, and 201 ± 135 vs 185 ± 165 min, respectively, for Month 1). The apnea hypopnea index decreased significantly from 22 ± 21/h to 2 ± 3/h on CPAP (p = 0.005), and 18 ± 15/h to 2 ± 2/h on Bi-Flex (p < 0.0005), but there was no significant difference between groups (p = 0.82 for CPAP vs Bi-Flex). The Epworth Sleepiness Scale decreased from 8 ± 5 to 6 ± 3 on CPAP (p = 0.14), and 10 ± 6 to 5 ± 5 on Bi-Flex (p < 0.0005; p = 0.12 for CPAP vs Bi-Flex).

Conclusions:

Both CPAP and Bi-Flex are efficacious in treating children and adolescents with OSAS. However, adherence is suboptimal with both methods. Further research is required to determine ways to improve adherence in the pediatric population.

Citation:

Marcus CL; Beck SE; Traylor J; Cornaglia MA; Meltzer LJ; DiFeo N; Karamessinis LR; Samuel J; Falvo J; DiMaria M; Gallagher PR; Beris H; Menello MK. Randomized, double-blind clinical trial of two different modes of positive airway pressure therapy on adherence and efficacy in children. J Clin Sleep Med 2012;8(1):37-42.

J Clin Sleep Med. 2012 February 15; 8(1): 37–42.doi:  10.5664/jcsm.1656 PMCID: PMC3266335

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