Widely mentioned in adults, sleep apnea also affects children. Particularly harmful for their development, specialists call for early detection. La Maisonnée in Francheville, specializing in pediatric care, and the Woman Mother Child Hospital in Bron establish diagnoses.
Children are the unrecognized victims of sleep apnea. Its pediatric prevalence is between 2 and 5% in most studies, sometimes more.
On March 18, took place the 22nd National Sleep Day. According to Inserm data, the percentage rises to 8% for 20-44 year olds, and more for older people.
However, the Albigensian association, Ideas, which promotes the care of young patients, estimates that sleep apnea affects at least one child in 20, ie a proportion 100 times higher than that of so-called rare diseases.
Nocturnal snoring is a clinical sign of a possible sleep obstructive syndrome. Nevertheless, it is not sufficiently taken into account according to specialists. A recent survey by the OpinionWay Institute, carried out among a thousand parents, revealed a population of 6% of snoring children.
“Often I hear it said, “look, he snores like his grandfather”. No, a child who snores, it’s not normal”assures Patricia Franco, head of the pediatric sleep unit at the Woman Mother Child Hospital (HFME) in Bron, near Lyon.
Occasional discomfort, such as a stuffy nose are possible. “But if the child snores every night, in a prolonged and intense way, you have to think about sleep apnea”, insists the doctor, for whom “this message does not pass enough in the families”.
André Stagnara, rehabilitation manager at La Maisonnée, a pediatric follow-up care establishment located in Francheville (Rhône) underlines how much this apnea is damaging.
Supporting evidence, he broadcasts the night recording of a 4-year-old child: the air entering the lungs with difficulty is heard. Then the sound decreases and breathing stops for about twenty seconds. The phenomenon recurs several times per hour.
“He does this all night. However, it is during REM sleep (dream) that we record the learning of the day: the micro-awakenings associated with low oxygenation will alter the psychomotor development of the patient. child”, summarizes the practitioner.
“You can’t imagine the lost potential. To learn how to hold your spoon well, articulate, tie your shoelaces, read, write, etc., you need quality sleep, so that the brain can do its job of sorting and sorting. ‘archiving”, abounds Dr. Ellaffi. And “to sleep well, you have to breathe well.”
Other things that can alert parents are snoring, restless nights, difficulty waking up, dark circles in the eyes, pale complexion, daytime fatigue, lack of attention at school, hyperactivity or form of irascibility are all signs of the disorder in children. Parents should not hesitate to consult.
Nose drops or anti-allergy treatment, removal of tonsils or hypertrophied adenoids, oro-maxillo-facial physiotherapy to reposition the tongue, nasal septum surgery or orthodontics, “continuous positive pressure” breathing apparatus… The answers sleep apnea, more or less heavy, vary depending on the case.
It is still necessary to have access to the diagnosis. Two children’s sleep units, each with three registration beds, exist in France. One is in Paris (Robert-Debré hospital) and the other in Bron (HFME), where the waiting time before being able to be diagnosed easily reaches one year.
Since 2019, Patricia Franco has been working to create a regional care network to better meet demand.
An inter-university diploma has existed since 2011, 20 laureates per year are trained in sleep, particularly in paediatrics. Specialists are still few in number.
For André Stagnara, the solution involves the opening of additional beds and the use of remote monitoring of children with hearing aids.
The Francheville structure is carrying out a project in this direction, which the Regional Health Agency has agreed to finance for a year of experimentation. Insufficient according to the practitioner, “We found a pneumo-pediatrician, which is a gift from heaven, we are not going to offer her a one-year fixed-term contract!”