Behavioral and cognitive outcomes of habitual snoring in children aged 2-14 years in Chengdu, Sichuan

Purpose: Habitual snoring is associated with cognitive, behavioral, and other physiological problems of children. Few studies have reported specifically on the relationships between snoring and those problems in children as noticed by their parents. We aimed to identify the cognitive, behavioral, and sleep-related nocturnal problems in children with HS as noted by their parents.

Materials and methods: A cross-sectional survey was performed in Chengdu, Sichuan, China. Children aged 2-14 years from four districts were randomly chosen to participate. Questionnaires were completed voluntarily by the children's parents/guardians.

Results: A total of 1548 questionnaires were analyzed and classified those children as 463 habitual snorers (HS group, 30.4 %), 683 occasional snorers (OS group, 44.8 %), and 402 non-snorers (NS group, 26.4 %). The percentages of children with sleep-related nocturnal symptoms were 94.6 %, 87.3 %, and 66.9 % in the HS, OS, and NS groups. Percentages of children with cognitive problems were 76.2 %, 74.6 %, and 64.9 % in the HS, OS, and NS groups, respectively (P < 0.001). The frequencies of daytime behavioral problems were 68.3 %, 61.5 %, and 46.8%in the HS, OS, and NS groups, respectively (P < 0.001).The average number of sleep-related nocturnal symptoms, cognitive symptoms and daytime behavioral problems was higher in the HS group than in the OS and NS groups.

Conclusions: HS is a significant contributor to sleep-related nocturnal symptoms and daytime cognitive and behavioral problems in children, as reported by their parents/guardians. HS and OS are important contributors to poor sleep quality and daytime cognitive and behavioral problems in children.