THE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL AT MONTEFIORE
Photo of an overweight child

As the obesity epidemic grows in the United States, doctors are discovering more and more far reaching health concerns for overweight children. Many recent studies have shown that sleep-disordered breathing (SDB), which can include various sleep behaviors ranging in severity from snoring to obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), disproportionately affects children who are overweight.

When a person gains weight, the extra fat in the neck and upper body can block airflow and disrupt sleep. Snoring, present in essentially everyone with OSA, results from the vibration of excess tissue—whether it’s fat, large natural anatomy or both—as the person breathes in.

“With the growing obesity epidemic in the nation and in our own backyards, we’re seeing more children and teens developing sleep problems because of their weight,” says pediatric pulmonologist Raanan Arens, MD, chief of the Division of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine at The Children’s Hospital at Montefiore (CHAM) and associate professor of Pediatric Respiratory Medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. “About half of all obese teens have sleep-disordered breathing.”

STRUGGLING FOR BREATH

SDB is a group of conditions that cause abnormal breathing during sleep. OSA occurs when the airways collapse during sleep, causing people to stop breathing for brief periods. This potentially serious condition can increase the risk for a host of problems in adults, including heart attack, stroke, diabetes and accidents.

In kids, OSA and SDB can affect their health, concentration, thinking, judgment, memory and performance at school.

MONTEFIORE CAN HELP

Pediatric specialists at CHAM’s Sleep Disorders Center provide comprehensive evaluation and treatment services to kids with SDB and other sleep problems. The Center’s multidisciplinary team of sleep experts evaluates patients thoroughly, assesses the impact weight may be having on their sleep and conducts sleep studies to diagnose SDB.

Treatment varies depending on the cause of the sleep problem and may include surgery to remove enlarged tonsils and adenoids, referral to a weight-loss program, bariatric weightloss surgery or continuous positive airway pressure devices to support breathing during sleep.

Photo of Raanan Arens, MD For more information or to make an appointment for your child to get a sleep evaluation from Dr. Arens or another member of CHAM’s pulmonary/sleep team, please call 718-741-2450.

Finding Answers to Sleep-Disordered Breathing

Raanan Arens, MD, chief of the Division of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine at The Children’s Hospital at Montefiore (CHAM) and associate professor of Pediatric Respiratory Medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, is conducting a National Institutes of Health-funded research program to find out why some obese kids and teens develop sleep-disordered breathing (SD B) and others don’t.

“We’re using a combination of sleep studies, magnetic resonance imaging scans and sophisticated computer software to predict the structural or functional problems or other factors that place kids at risk for SDB,” says Dr. Arens. “The computer model also predicts how kids will respond to specific treatments.”

Overweight and obese children ages 8–17 who may or may not snore and who have not had their tonsils or adenoids removed may be eligible to participate in the study.