Does sleep-disordered breathing add to impairments in academic performance and brain structure usually observed in children with overweight/obesity?
Abstract
Approximately 4–11% of children suffer from sleep-disordered breathing (SDB), and children with obesity are at increased risk. Both obesity and SDB have been separately associated with poorer brain health, yet whether SDB severity affects brain health in children with obesity remains unanswered. This study aimed to examine associations of SDB severity with academic performance and brain structure (i.e., total brain and gray and white matter volumes and gray matter volume in the hippocampus) in children with overweight/obesity. One hundred nine children aged 8–12 years with overweight/obesity were included. SDB severity and its subscales (i.e., snoring, daytime sleepiness, and inattention/hyperactivity) were evaluated via the Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire (PSQ), and academic performance was evaluated with the Woodcock-Muñoz standardized test and school grades. Brain structure was assessed by magnetic resonance imaging. SDB severity was not associated with academic performance measured by the standardized test (all |β|> 0.160, P > 0.076), yet it was associated with the school grade point average (β = -0.226, P = 0.007) and natural and social science grades (β = -0.269, P = 0.024). Intention/hyperactivity seemed to drive these associations. No associations were found between SDB severity and the remaining school grades (all β < -0.188, P > 0.065) or brain volumes (all P > 0.05).
Conclusion: Our study shows that SDB severity was associated with lower school grades, yet it was not associated with the standardized measurement of academic performance or with brain volumes in children with overweight/obesity. SDB severity may add to academic problems in children beyond the effects contributed by overweight/obesity status alone.
Main Authors
Format
Articles
Research article
Published
2022
Series
Subjects
Publication in research information system
Publisher
Springer
The permanent address of the publication
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:jyu-202310105673Käytä tätä linkitykseen.
Review status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0340-6199
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-022-04403-0
Language
English
Published in
European Journal of Pediatrics
Citation
- Torres-Lopez, L. V., Cadenas-Sanchez, C., Migueles, J. H., Esteban-Cornejo, I., Molina-Garcia, P., Hillman, C. H., Catena, A., & Ortega, F. B. (2022). Does sleep-disordered breathing add to impairments in academic performance and brain structure usually observed in children with overweight/obesity?. European Journal of Pediatrics, 181, 2055-2065. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-022-04403-0
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Additional information about funding
Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Granada / CBUA. This work is part of a PhD thesis conducted in the Official Doctoral Programme in Biomedicine of the University of Granada, Spain. Preliminary data from this manuscript has been presented previously in The International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity (ISBNPA) Xchange 2021 Annual Meeting. The ActiveBrains project was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and the “Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER)” (DEP2013-47540, DEP2016-79512-R, DEP2017-91544-EXP and RYC-2011–09011). L.V.T.-L. is supported by a Grant from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (FPU17/04802). J.H.M. is supported by a Grant from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport (FPU15/02645). C.C.-S. is supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (FJC2018-037925-I). IEC is supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (RYC2019-027287-I). Additional support was obtained from the University of Granada, Plan Propio de Investigación 2016, Excellence actions: Units of Excellence, Scientific Excellence Unit on Exercise and Health (UCEES), by the Junta de Andalucía, Consejería de Conocimiento, Investigación y Universidades, and European Regional Development Funds (ref. SOMM17/6107/UGR). In addition, funding was provided by the SAMID III network, RETICS, funded by the PNI + D + I 2017–2021 (Spain), ISCIII- Sub-Directorate General for Research Assessment and Promotion, the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) (Ref. RD16/0022), the EXERNET Research Network on Exercise and Health (DEP2005-00046/ACTI; 09/UPB/19; 45/UPB/20; 27/UPB/21), the European Union’s 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No.667302, and the HL-PIVOT network-Healthy Living for Pandemic Event Protection. Additional funding was obtained from the Andalusian Operational Programme supported with European Regional Development Funds (ERDF in English, FEDER in Spanish, project ref: B-CTS-355-UGR18).
Copyright© The Author(s) 2022