Introduction: Children and adolescents with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) may have consequences, such as daytime sleepiness and learning, memory, and attention disorders, that may interfere in oral language.
Objective: To verify, based on the literature, whether OSA in children was correlated to oral language disorders.
Methods: A literature review was carried out in the Lilacs, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases using the descriptors "Child Language" AND "Obstructive Sleep Apnea". Articles that did not discuss the topic and included children with other comorbidities rather than OSA were excluded.
Results: In total, no articles were found at Lilacs, 37 at PubMed, 47 at Scopus, and 38 at Web of Science databases. Based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria, six studies were selected, all published from 2004 to 2014. Four articles demonstrated an association between primary snoring/OSA and receptive language and four articles showed an association with expressive language. It is noteworthy that the articles used different tools and considered different levels of language.
Conclusion: The late diagnosis and treatment of obstructive sleep apnea is associated with a delay in verbal skill acquisition. The professionals who work with children should be alert, as most of the phonetic sounds are acquired during ages 3-7 years, which is also the peak age for hypertrophy of the tonsils and childhood OSA.
Fonoaudiologia no Sono
A Fonoaudiologia é a ciência que tem como objeto de estudo a comunicação humana, no que se refere ao seu desenvolvimento, aperfeiçoamento, distúrbios e diferenças, em relação aos aspectos envolvidos na função auditiva periférica e central, na função vestibular, na função cognitiva, na linguagem oral e escrita, na fala, na fluência, na voz, nas funções orofaciais e na deglutição.
Há vários tratamentos dependendo das causas do ronco e da apnéia. Entre eles, estão a cirurgia, a farmacoterapia, dietas, uso de respiradores artificiais e o tratamento fonoaudiológico com exercícios miofuncionais.
Esses exercícios têm como objetivo fortalecer a musculatura da garganta envolvendo a língua e o palato mole (parte posterior do céu da boca) podendo reduzir em até 40% a gravidade e os sintomas da apnéia do sono.
Os exercícios devem ser feitos com a orientação de um fonoaudiólogo, em frente a um espelho. Para manter os resultados conseguidos na fase inicial, em que os exercícios são mais intensos, eles devem ser continuados todos os dias. Se forem interrompidos, os músculos voltam ao estado de fraqueza e flacidez, permitindo que a apnéia e o ronco retornem.
Ainda que esses exercícios não sejam uma solução definitiva para estes problemas, podem aliviar bastante o incômodo e melhorar a saúde de quem sofre com o ronco e a apnéia. Em alguns casos, os exercícios deverão ser feitos como um complemento a outros tratamentos (como o uso de placas para o maxilar, o CPAP ou a perda de peso).
Obstructive sleep apnea and oral language disorders
- PMID: 27184507
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- DOI: 10.1016/j.bjorl.2016.01.017
Free articleAbstract
Introduction: Children and adolescents with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) may have consequences, such as daytime sleepiness and learning, memory, and attention disorders, that may interfere in oral language.
Objective: To verify, based on the literature, whether OSA in children was correlated to oral language disorders.
Methods: A literature review was carried out in the Lilacs, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases using the descriptors "Child Language" AND "Obstructive Sleep Apnea". Articles that did not discuss the topic and included children with other comorbidities rather than OSA were excluded.
Results: In total, no articles were found at Lilacs, 37 at PubMed, 47 at Scopus, and 38 at Web of Science databases. Based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria, six studies were selected, all published from 2004 to 2014. Four articles demonstrated an association between primary snoring/OSA and receptive language and four articles showed an association with expressive language. It is noteworthy that the articles used different tools and considered different levels of language.
Conclusion: The late diagnosis and treatment of obstructive sleep apnea is associated with a delay in verbal skill acquisition. The professionals who work with children should be alert, as most of the phonetic sounds are acquired during ages 3-7 years, which is also the peak age for hypertrophy of the tonsils and childhood OSA.
Keywords: Apneia do sono tipo obstrutiva; Child language; Fonoaudiologia; Language disorders; Linguagem infantil; Obstructive sleep apnea; Speech, language and hearing sciences; Transtornos da linguagem