Study shows links between obesity, sleep apnea and cognitive problems in children.

08 Nov 2011 Duncan Ferguson, Elite Minds

Recognising that academic success involves the ability to use cognitive skills in the school environment, the researchers investigated whether mediator links exist between body weight, sleep disordered breathing and cognition.  

Published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, the study suggests that the three problems of obesity, sleep apnea and behaviour and learning difficulties interact with another, exacerbating the effects of each individual problem.  

Led by Karen Spruyt, the research team performed sleep, cognitive and body weight tests on more than 350 healthy, normally developing children ages 6 to 10, and found a complex relationship between the three factors.  

Spruyt commented that "Cognitive functioning in children is adversely affected by frequent health-related problems, such as obesity and sleep-disordered breathing." "Furthermore, poorer integrative mental processing may place a child at a bigger risk for adverse health outcomes." On the other hand, "good cognitive abilities may be protective against increased body weight and sleep-disordered breathing,". "If the brain can function optimally, it can help protect against the clinical manifestation of disease."  

Spruyt explained that the new study findings suggest, that when targeting obesity in children, clinicians should also screen for sleep apnea and cognitive impairment, because improving one of these variables could also lead to improvement in the others. "Keep in mind all the interplays that are there," she said.  

Related news articles: 

Thinking disorders may lead to obesity

Go back to the page you were last viewing