Sleep Disordered Breathing and Growth in Children: A Longitudinal Cohort Study

[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We will evaluate the association between growth failures (GF) in children, and sleep disordered breathing (SDB) characterized by snoring, apnea, and mouth-breathing. Adenotonsillar hypertrophy is the primary factor leading to SDB in children. Tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy (T&A) is curative in 80% of cases. As an intervention specifically for SDB, children undergoing T&As show, as a corollary benefit, catch-up growth. Data from small, case series of referred children suggest that SDB may increase the risk of GF, but this has never been evaluated in a longitudinal, population-based study. We will analyze data on SDB and GF in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), a prospective, population-based cohort study in the U.K. ALSPAC is amongst the largest, most well-delineated child cohorts in the world. Preliminary ALSPAC data find smaller height increases from 6- 42 months of age in children who snored at 6 months (p