Abstract
Background: The prevalence of sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) in children with Chiari malformation type II (CM-II), a known association of neural tube defects (NTD), has not been well documented. The aim of the present study was to assess the prevalence and possible predictive factors of SDB in patients with CM-II. Methods: The study included all patients with documented CM-II who were routinely referred from the Neurosurgery Clinic to the University Sleep Disorders Centre at King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, between January 2002 and July 2009. Overnight full polysomnography (PSG) was performed in all patients. Polysomnographic data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: Sixteen children (11 boys, five girls) were included in the study; their mean age was 4.7 years (range, 0.810 years) and their mean body mass index was 18.05 kg/m2 (range, 15.425.4 kg/m2). For the whole group, the mean apneahypopnea index (AHI) was 6.3/h (range, 0.224.5/h), with AHI recorded as >5/h in five patients (31.3%) and =10/h in three patients (18.8%). The mean central apneahypopnea index was 5.9/h (range, 024.5/h) and the mean obstructive apneahypopnea index was 0.4/h (range, 02.9/h). The mean arousal index was 15.1/h (range, 534/h). Conclusion: The major assumption linking CM-II and NTD with potential brainstem compression and respiratory dysfunction during sleep was confirmed. Indeed, SDB is highly prevalent, and clearly underreported and undertreated in patients with CM-II associated with NTD.