Snoring, short bed time impact kids' mental skills

NEW YORK, Feb 6 (Reuters) Among a group of children with enlarged tonsils and adenoids who were suspected of having disordered breathing during sleep, those who snored a lot and spent less time in bed did less well on certain mental tests, according to a new study.

Snoring can be a sign of sleep apnea, in which airways become obstructed during sleep and cause brief but frequent breathing blockages. A number of studies have suggested that children who snore every night have impaired mental performance, Dr Paul M Suratt told Reuters Health. ''Our results support this and show that kids who are not in bed as long don't do as well.'' The findings, which appear in the medical journal Pediatrics, are based on a study of 56 children, between 6 and 12 years of age. A sleep diary and wrist activity monitor were used to assess sleep patterns for 6 consecutive days and nights, and parents provided snoring assessments. On the seventh day, the children completed a number of standard cognitive tests.

Children who spent an average of 557 minutes in bed each night and who did not snore nightly scored significantly higher on tests of vocabulary and similarity-matching than did children who spent 521 minutes in bed on average and who snored nightly, Suratt, of the University of Virginia Medical Center, Charlottesville, and colleagues found.

Whether the adverse effects of snoring and reduced time in bed are long-lasting remains to be determined, but ''impairments in vocabulary and basic cognitive skills are likely to affect people for the rest of their lives,'' Suratt commented.

REUTERS RL VV0843