What Causes Sleep Apnea in Children?
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Introduction
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According to the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford, sleep apnea can commonly occur in children between the ages of three and six. Sleep apnea is a disorder that causes a person to stop breathing for various amounts of time while they are sleeping. In most cases, it will not do much more than cause some amount of sleep deprivation. However, it can also cause a lack of oxygen to the child's still developing body, resulting in permanent lung and heart damage.
Tonsils and Adenoids
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Swollen tonsils and adenoids are the No. 1 cause of sleep apnea in children. Since a child's airways is much smaller than an adult's airways, even a small amounts of swelling can cause the airway to become periodically blocked, especially while the child is sleeping. The enlargement is usually caused by an infection and can be solved by either the removal of the tonsils or adenoids, or medication to reduce the swelling.
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Tumor
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Another reason a child could be experiencing sleep apnea is a tumor. Regardless of whether the tumor is malignant, a growth such as a tumor in the throat can easily close off the airways while a child sleeps at night. Once the body goes into sleep mode, the muscle tone around the airway decreases. This can close the airways just enough to allow the tumor to completely shut off the air supply to the body.
Obesity
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Though not as common of a cause in children as it is in adults, childhood obesity can also cause sleep apnea. This is because the excess body fat located on the chest and neck can push into the airway while the child is lying down. This results in a blockage of the air to the body.
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Resources
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