Sleep-related Breathing Disorders in Children with Asthma: Impact on Asthma Control.

Objective: To investigate the frequency of sleep-related breathing disorder and the relationship between asthma control and sleep-related breathing disorder in children with persistent asthma.

Study Design: Comparative cross-sectional study.

Place And Duration Of Study: University of Health Sciences, Hamidiye Etfal Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul/Turkey, from January 2019 to June 2019.

Methodology: Children aged 4-11 years with persistent asthma were included. At enrollment, socio-demographic and asthmatic characteristics were investigated, and pediatric sleep questionnaire and childhood asthma control tests were administered.

Results: Out of 120 patients, 75 (62.5%) were males and 45 (37%) females. According to GINA guidelines, asthma was well controlled in 23.3% children, partially controlled in 50.8% children and uncontrolled in 25.8% children. The frequency of habitual snoring was reported as 20.8% and the frequency of sleep-related breathing disorder was 29.2%. The prevalence of sleep-related breathing disorders was significantly higher in the uncontrolled asthma group (p <0.001). Significant-independent efficacy of physician-diagnosed allergic rhinitis, habitual snoring, and low asthma control test scores was observed in predicting sleep-related breathing disorders in multivariate logistic regression model (p <0.001).

Conclusion: Uncontrolled asthma is associated with sleep-related disordered breathing. The authors suggest that allergic rhinitis, habitual snoring, and low asthma control test scores are important risk factors for sleep-related breathing disorders in children with persistent asthma.

Key Words: Asthma, Asthma control test, Allergic rhinitis, Habitual snoring, Pediatric sleep questionnaire, Sleep-related breathing disorder.