Children With OSA Have Different EEG Signals Than Healthy Children

Preliminary screening for sleep apnea in children who are awake, performed via an electroencephalogram (EEG), may help identify whether oxygen desaturation is occurring overnight, according to study findings published in the Journal of Sleep Research.

Investigators sought to identify differences in the functional neural connectivity of the brain of children with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).The researchers analyzed data from 3673 pediatric patients with OSA from the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Sleep DataBank. The participants were classified into 4 comparison groups based on oxygen saturation level and 4 groups based on apnea-hypopnea index (AHI).

Topological data analysis (TDA) methods were applied to the EEG signals. The TDA techniques measured the topologic invariants of functional brain connectivity distance matrices.

Permutation testing of EEG signals of apnea and hypopnea events among children who had mild, moderate, or severe AHI were compared with EEGs of normal breathing in children with low AHI (<1). The comparison showed statistically significant differences in multiple frequency bands for multiple levels of OSA severity based on AHI. Although the results for specific bands varied based on OSA severity and sleep stage, a difference was observed between EEG signals of apnea and hypopnea events and healthy breathing.

Permutation testing of EEG signals of normal breathing in children with mild, moderate, or severe AHI was also compared with EEGs of children with low AHI (<1). This comparison showed no statistically significant difference between the latent EEG groups in all sleep stages and all EEG frequency bands. In analysis of EEG signals in children experiencing oxygen desaturation vs those of healthy children’s breathing, differences were noted in the beta and gamma bands of the EEG signals.

A comparison was also performed of permutation testing of EEG signals for normal breathing in children with oxygen desaturation vs EEGs of healthy breathing among children who only have healthy breathing during sleep. This comparison found a statistically significant difference between the latent EEGs in all EEG frequency bands for moderate oxygen desaturation, as well as in most EEG frequency bands for mild oxygen desaturation and in beta and gamma bands for severe oxygen desaturations.

“This study demonstrated the potential of EEG signals collected not during oxygen desaturation events to identify groups of subjects as experiencing oxygen desaturations during sleep or as experiencing healthy breathing during sleep,” the study authors stated.

This article originally appeared on Pulmonology Advisor