As a pulmonologist, one aspect of my practice is sleep apnea. This is simply a disorder in which a person will stop breathing at night due to upper airway blockage and may further awaken them. This happens to almost every one at some point during their sleeping career. It becomes a problem, though, if it happens many times every night. I am sure many of you are aware of sleep apnea being as prevalent as asthma in our society among middle-aged older men. There is, however, an under recognized group of the people with sleep apnea because they present differently than the traditional group above: children.

Sleep apnea may affect 2-3% of middle school children and up to 13% of children ages 3-6 years old. Higher prevalence is seen in minority children (African-Americans and Hispanics) and children born preterm. Adults with sleep apnea, generally are excessively sleepy, different from other adults who are sleepy from long work days or just staying up too late. People with sleep apnea can be extremely sleepy. For example, these people fall asleep watching TV or a movie, may fall asleep while driving and stopped at a stop light....you get the idea. Children tend to manifest this problem differently by cognitive deficits, behavior problems (inattention, hyperactivity, aggression), mood swings, poor performance in school. Children may also face early hypertension and an increased tendency toward diabetes.

Childhood sleep apnea and adult sleep apnea both are associated with an increased collapsibility of the back of the throat resulting in a tendency to stop breathing at night. Adult sleep apnea tends to be predominantly seen in men and influenced by weight, while childhood sleep apnea tends to be seen equally in both boys and girls and weight is less of a consideration in children than in adults. The issue of weight coupled with sleep apnea seems to be most important in older children, ages 13 to 16 years old. Notably, the size of one's tonsils and adenoids in comparison with the size of the throat is a determining factor. Furthermore, and importantly, childhood sleep apnea is also associated with allergies and asthma.

Dr. Jeffrey Rehm, father of three, is a pulmonologist at both Mary Washington Hospital and
521 Park Hill Drive. Phone is (540)899-1615.