Affiliations: Department of Pediatrics, Kyungpook National
University Hospital, Daegu, South Korea
Note: [] Correspondence: Dr. Hyeeun Seo, 130 Dongdeok-ro, Joong-Gu,
Daegu, 700-721, South Korea. Tel.: +82 53 200 5704; Fax: +82 53 425 6683;
E-mail: she0922@hanmail.net
Abstract: Sleep is an essential physiologic process for health and analyzing
sleep architecture helps us not only to diagnose sleep disorders, but also to
understand the pathophysiology of these diseases. Therefore, this study was
aimed to analyze the sleep structure in children with sleep disorders.
Thirty-four children diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea, parasomnia, or
narcolepsy participated in this study from March 2008 to September 2011. Their
polysomnographs were reviewed and their sleep parameters were analyzed. Their
mean age was 9.3 ± 4.1 yr (range: 3–12-year-old) and male
to female ratio was 3.8. Patients with obstructive sleep apnea showed increased
sleep latency and total arousal index and a decreased N3 sleep compared to
other groups. In children with parasomnia, apnea hypopnea index and periodic
limb movement index were not increased and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, REM
sleep latency were decreased. Patients with narcolepsy showed decreased sleep
latency and REM sleep latency. Among the three groups, there was no difference
except apnea hypopnea index. The result showed that sleep architectures in
children with sleep disorders were relatively similar to previous studies from
Western countries. In addition, it was judged that this study would provide
fundamental knowledge about sleep structure of Korean children. However,
further studies will be required to provide better understanding about the
sleep architectures in children with sleep disorders.
