Cerebral blood flow and behaviour in young children with sleep disruption
Rachael
Spooner1, 2*,
Atlanta
Flitton2,
Jessica
Hofmann2,
Justin
Ridley2,
Olivia
Porteous2,
Kurt
Lushington1,
Hannah
Keage2,
Alex
Chatburn2,
Nicholas
A.
Badcock3 and
Mark
Kohler1, 2
-
1
University of South Australia, School of Psychology, Social Work and Social Policy, Australia
-
2
University of South Australia, School of Psychology, Social Work and Social Policy, Australia
-
3
Macquarie University, Department of Cognitive Science, Australia
Background: Sleep disordered breathing (SDB) is a spectrum disorder which results in nightly bouts of sleep fragmentation and oxygen deprivation. There is now a large body of evidence that SDB is associated with an array of cardiovascular and daytime deficits in adults, suggesting a susceptibility of brain structure and function to sleep disruption. Children with SDB and other chronic sleep disorders typically display impulsive behaviour as well as inattention and hyperactivity, yet analyses of sleep have not been able to adequately explain these deficits. The investigation of cerebral blood flow may help explain these behaviours seen in children with sleep disturbance. Methods: Resting state cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV) was measured bilaterally in children (N=60) aged 1-5 years. Transcranial Doppler ultrasonography was used to simultaneously measure the CBFV in the left and right middle cerebral arteries for a period of 5 seconds, while the child sat upright. Parents were also asked to complete sleep and temperament questionnaires. Results: There was a significant association between average bilateral CBFV and parent reported child impulsivity, r=.37, p=.004; greater CBFV was associated with greater impulsivity. Age, but not gender or socioeconomic status, was negatively associated with child impulsivity r=-.29, p=.025. Age accounted for 8.4% of variance in child impulsivity (p=.025), with average bilateral CBFV explaining an additional 14.5% of variance in the temperament measure (p=.001). Children were later grouped according to parent reported SDB symptoms; none (N=23), mild-moderate (N=28), severe (N=9). There was a significant positive relationship between SDB group and mean bilateral CBFV, r=.26, p=.049. Gender, age and socioeconomic status were not predictive of mean bilateral CBFV, but SDB severity significantly explained 6.5% of variance in average bilateral CBFV (p=.049). Discussion: CBFV was found to be positively associated with impulsivity in young children in addition to the effects of age. Parent reported SDB severity was also associated with increased CBFV and may provide evidence of a cerebral vasculature based mechanism to explain the problematic behaviour characteristic of children with SDB, and sleep problems more broadly. These results are consistent with the known impact of SDB on cardiovascular health in adults, and warrant further investigation of cerebral hemodynamics and daytime function in paediatric sleep disorders.
Keywords:
Transcranial doppler ultrasonography,
Pediatrics,
sleep disruption,
Temperament,
cerebral blood flow (CBF)
Conference:
ACNS-2013 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Society Conference, Clayton, Melbourne, Australia, 28 Nov - 1 Dec, 2013.
Presentation Type:
Poster
Topic:
Other
Citation:
Spooner
R,
Flitton
A,
Hofmann
J,
Ridley
J,
Porteous
O,
Lushington
K,
Keage
H,
Chatburn
A,
Badcock
NA and
Kohler
M
(2013). Cerebral blood flow and behaviour in young children with sleep disruption.
Conference Abstract:
ACNS-2013 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Society Conference.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2013.212.00123
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Received:
23 Sep 2013;
Published Online:
25 Nov 2013.
*
Correspondence:
Miss. Rachael Spooner, University of South Australia, School of Psychology, Social Work and Social Policy, Adelaide, SA, 5000, Australia, rachael.spooner@unisa.edu.au