Peer-reviewed article
O018 Changes in sleep parameters in children with Down Syndrome following treatment
Chawla J, Burgess S, Heussler H ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study followed 41 children with Down syndrome aged 3-16 years over 24 months to evaluate how sleep changed after treatment. Sixteen children received sleep interventions (surgery, CPAP, melatonin, or combinations), while 25 did not. The intervention group showed improvements in airway obstruction on sleep tests, but parents still reported ongoing sleep problems even after treatment. The findings suggest that while standard interventions help with breathing during sleep, they may not address other sleep disorders common in children with Down syndrome.
Key points
- Children receiving interventions showed significant improvement in obstructive airway measurements (OAHI) on polysomnography
- Average total sleep duration was about 10 hours per night in both groups, consistent with national recommendations
- Parents reported higher sleep difficulty scores in the intervention group compared to controls, and these remained elevated throughout the study despite treatment
- Interventions included ENT surgery (7 children), CPAP (4), melatonin (3), or combinations (2)
- Ongoing sleep difficulties persisted in both groups despite standard interventions, suggesting non-respiratory sleep disorders may not be adequately addressed
Limitations
The study does not report which country it was conducted in or the specific clinical characteristics that led to intervention selection, making it unclear whether results are generalizable. The reasons why parents continued to report sleep difficulties despite objective improvements are not fully explored.
Abstract
Abstract Introduction There is limited evidence about how sleep changes in children with Down syndrome (DS) following sleep interventions. This study evaluated changes in sleep over time in children receiving treatment comparing to a control group who did not. Methods Children with DS, 3-16yrs, attending the sleep clinic were followed for 24-months. Sleep parameters including parent completed child sleep habits questionnaire (CSHQ), PSG and home sleep diary were obtained pre and post sleep interventions for children undergoing treatment. Data was obtained at similar intervals for the control group who were followed over the same time period. Results Data was obtained for 41 participants, 16 children received an intervention and 25 did not. Interventions included ENT surgery (7), CPAP (4), melatonin (3) or a combination (2). The intervention group had a significantly higher average total CSHQ score overall than those in the control group (0.01). Scores decreased over time but remained higher than in controls throughout, and were clinically significant in both groups (>41). Sleep diary estimated average total sleep duration did not differ between groups and was 10hrs/night. PSG showed improvement in OAHI in those children undergoing pre and post intervention studies. Discussion Evaluation of sleep parameters in this referred cohort of children with Down syndrome demonstrates total sleep duration in keeping with national recommendations and improvement in obstruction with treatment. However, CSHQ results indicate ongoing sleep difficulties reported by parents, despite standard sleep interventions. This may reflect persisting non-respiratory sleep disorders, which are not being adequately addressed at present.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Sleep interventions including ENT surgery, CPAP therapy, melatonin, or combinations thereof
- Population
- Children with Down syndrome aged 3-16 years attending a sleep clinic (16 intervention, 25 control)
Key finding
PSG showed improvement in obstructive airway hypopnea index (OAHI) in children undergoing pre- and post-intervention studies