Increased sympathetic activity in children with obstructive sleep apnea: Cardiovascular implications

Denise O'Driscoll, Rosemary Sylvia Claire Horne, Margot Davey, Sarah Hope, Vicki Anderson, John Trinder, Adrian Walker, Gillian Nixon

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

71 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with increased sympathetic activity and hypertension in adults. We tested the hypothesis that children with OSA also have increased sympathetic activity as measured by overnight urinary catecholamines, and that this increase is related to the severity of OSA and to blood pressure (BP). METHODS: Seventy snoring children referred for assessment of sleep disordered breathing and 26 healthy non-snoring control children (age range: 3-12years, 59M/37F) were studied. Overnight polysomnography was performed coincident with a 12h overnight urine collection. Urinary catecholamine levels were determined using high performance liquid chromatography (noradrenaline, adrenaline and dopamine, with levels adjusted for creatinine excretion). Simple linear and stepwise multiple linear regressions were used to determine the independent associations between catecholamine levels and age, gender, BMI z-score, systolic BP z-score, diastolic BP z-score, and apnea hypopnea index (AHI). RESULTS: Simple linear regressions revealed significant associations between noradrenaline and AHI (r=0.32) and age (r=-0.20, p
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)483 - 488
Number of pages6
JournalSleep Medicine
Volume12
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2011

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