Sleep-Disordered Breathing in Children with Recurrent Wheeze/Asthma: A Single Centre Study

The relationship between asthma and sleep-disordered breathing is bidirectional due to common risk factors that promote airway inflammation. Obstructive sleep-disordered breathing and recurrent wheeze/asthma are conditions that involve the upper and the lower respiratory system, respectively. The aim of the present study was to investigate the sleep disordered breathing in children with recurrent wheeze/asthma. This was a retrospective study concerning children older than 2 years who underwent—between January 2014 and November 2016—an in-laboratory overnight polygraphic study. We match the children between those who do or do not have recurrent wheeze/asthma disease. We examined the clinical records of 137 children. We excluded eight patients because of neurological and genetic conditions. Children with recurrent wheeze/asthma (N = 28) were younger (p = 0.002) and leaner (p = 0.013) compared to non-affected children (N = 98). Children with wheeze/asthma and unaffected ones had a similar obstructive apnea-hypopnea index (p = 0.733) and oxygen desaturation index (p = 0.535). The logistic regression analysis, in which the condition of wheeze/asthma (yes/no) was a dependent variable, while demographic (age, sex, body mass index (BMI) Z-score) and polygraphic results during sleep (obstructive apnea-hypopnea index, central apnea index, peripheral oxygen saturation (SpO(2)), and snoring) were covariates, showed that children with wheeze/asthma had higher central apnea index (Exp(B) = 2.212; Wald 6.845; p = 0.009). In conclusion, children with recurrent wheeze/asthma showed an increased number of central sleep apneas than unaffected children. This finding may suggest a dysfunction of the breathing control in the central nervous system during sleep. Systemic or central inflammation could be the cause.