Hypertensive children may have breathing problems

New York -- Children with high blood pressure, a condition also known as hypertension, may be at risk of developing sleep breathing disorder, says a new study.

Alisa A. Acosta and colleagues at the University of Texas Medical School, Houston, evaluated 15 boys and five girls aged 4-18 with primary hypertension who snored or had enlarged tonsils or night-time high blood pressure. Each participated in a one-night sleep study.

In the study, 60 percent of hypertensive children had a condition called sleep disordered breathing (SDB). SDB is characterised by short periods of upper airway obstructions that are complete (apnea) or partial (hypopnea), or a longer period of insufficient air movement (obstructive hypoventilation), reported the online edition of EurekAlert.

SDB is a disorder that can result in daytime sleepiness, limited attention span, poor school performance, hyperactivity, poor growth and increased blood pressure in the lungs.

"We know there's a link in adults between obstructive sleep apnea - the most common of SDBs - and high blood pressure, so we were curious to see if the same link exists in our paediatric population," Acosta said.

The researchers measured blood oxygen levels, airflow rates and brain activity to look for levels that would indicate sleep disordered breathing and found that 12 of the 20 children tested (60 percent) had SDB.