Left ventricular function in children with sleep-disordered breathing.

Severe obstructive sleep apnea in children leads to congestive heart failure. We studied the early changes in left ventricular function across a range of severity of the disorder. A dose-dependent decrease in diastolic function with increased severity of obstructive apnea was demonstrated.

Twenty-four-hour ambulatory blood pressure in children with sleep-disordered breathing.

Obstructive sleep apnea causes intermittent elevation of systemic blood pressure (BP) during sleep. To determine whether obstructive apnea in children has a tonic effect on diurnal BP, 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure was obtained from 60 children with mean age of 10.8 +/- 3.

Left ventricular hypertrophy and abnormal ventricular geometry in children and adolescents with obstructive sleep apnea.

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) has been shown to be an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease in adults. However, there are severe limitations in the extent to which the cardiovascular consequences of OSA are being studied in children. To investigate the echocardiographic changes in children with OSA, right and left ventricular (RV, LV) dimensions and LV mass index and geometry were measured in 28 children with OSA and 19 children with primary snoring (PS).