Brain function in children with obstructive sleep apnea: a resting-state fMRI study.
Tingting Ji, Xiaodan Li, Jun Chen, Xuemin Ren, Lin Mei, Yue Qiu, Jie Zhang, Shengcai Wang, Zhifei Xu, Hongbin Li, Li Zheng, Yun Peng, Yue Liu, Xin Ni, Jun Tai, Jiangang Liu
Author Information
Tingting Ji: Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University, National Center for Children's Health, Beijing, China.
Xiaodan Li: Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University, National Center for Children's Health, Beijing, China.
Jun Chen: Beijing Engineering Research Center of Pediatric Surgery, Engineering and Translational Center, Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University, National Center for Children's Health, Beijing, China.
Xuemin Ren: Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Big Data-Based Precision Medicine, School of Medical Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, China.
Lin Mei: Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University, National Center for Children's Health, Beijing, China.
Yue Qiu: Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University, National Center for Children's Health, Beijing, China.
Jie Zhang: Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University, National Center for Children's Health, Beijing, China.
Shengcai Wang: Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University, National Center for Children's Health, Beijing, China.
Zhifei Xu: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University, National Center for Children's Health, Beijing, China.
Hongbin Li: Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University, National Center for Children's Health, Beijing, China.
Li Zheng: Department of Sleep Center, Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University, National Center for Children's Health, Beijing, China.
Yun Peng: Department of Radiology, Imaging Center, Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University, National Center for Children's Health, Beijing, China.
Yue Liu: Department of Radiology, Imaging Center, Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University, National Center for Children's Health, Beijing, China.
Xin Ni: Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University, National Center for Children's Health, Beijing, China.
Jun Tai: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Children's Hospital, Capital Institute of Pediatrics, Beijing, China.
Jiangang Liu: Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Big Data-Based Precision Medicine, School of Medical Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, China.
OBJECTIVE: To explore the neural difference between children with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and healthy controls, together with the relation between this difference and cognitive dysfunction of children with OSA. METHODS: Twenty children with OSA (7.2 ± 3.1 years, apnea hypopnea index (AHI): 16.5 ± 16.6 events/h) and 29 healthy controls (7.7 ± 2.8 years, AHI: 1.7 ± 1.2 events/h) were recruited and matched with age, gender, and handedness. All children underwent resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) and T1-wighted imaging. Some children were sedated for MRI scanning. We compared amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (ALFF) and regional homogeneity (ReHo) of children with OSA with those of healthy controls. During resting-state, the former reflects the intensity of the spontaneous neural activities, whereas the latter reflects temporal similarity of the spontaneous neural activities within a local brain region. Pearson correlation analysis was performed between these features of rs-fMRI and cognitive scores among children with OSA. RESULTS: Compared with controls, children with OSA showed decreased ALFF in the left angular gyrus but increased ALFF in the right insula, and decreased ReHo in the left medial superior frontal gyrus, right lingual gyrus, and left precuneus. Additionally, among children with OSA, the ReHo value in the right lingual gyrus was negatively correlated with FIQ and VIQ, whereas that in the left medial superior frontal gyrus was positively correlated with VIQ. CONCLUSIONS: Children with OSA presented abnormal neural activities in some brain regions and impaired cognitive functions with the former possibly being the neural mechanism of the latter.
