Inefficient or insufficient encoding as potential primary deficit in neurodevelopmental performance among children with OSA

Dev Neuropsychol. 2009;34(5):601-14. doi: 10.1080/87565640903133566.

Abstract

Memory (M) impairments have been suggested in pediatric Obstructive Sleep Apnea along with attention and executive (AE), language (L), and visuospatial (V) dysfunctions. NEPSY assessment of children aged 5-9 years who were either healthy (N = 43), or who had OSA without L, V, AE (OSA(-), N = 22) or with L (N = 6), V (N = 1), AE (N = 3) (OSA(+), N = 10) dysfunctions revealed no gross memory problems in OSA; however, over the three learning trials of cross-modal association learning of name with face, the OSA(-) progressively improved performance, whereas the OSA(+) failed to progress. No within-group differences between immediate and delayed memory tasks were apparent. The data suggest the presence of slower information processing, and/or secondary memory problems, in the absence of retrieval or recall impairments among a subset of children with OSA. We hypothesize that inefficient/insufficient encoding may account for the primary deficit.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Attention*
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Cognition*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Memory*
  • Neuropsychological Tests
  • Psychomotor Performance*
  • Sleep Apnea, Obstructive / psychology*
  • Spatial Behavior
  • Visual Perception