Sex differences in the relationship of sleep-disordered breathing and asthma control among children with severe asthma

• Published in: The Journal of asthma 2022-06, Vol.59 (6), p.1148-1156
• Main Authors: Gunnlaugsson, Sigfus, Greco, Kimberly F., Petty, Carter R., Sierra, Gabriella C., Stamatiadis, Natalie P., Thayer, Christine, Hammond, Adam G., Giancola, Lauren M., Katwa, Umakanth, Simoneau, Tregony, Baxi, Sachin N., Gaffin, Jonathan M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Asthma; Child; Female; Humans; Male; Pediatric asthma; Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire; severe asthma; Sex Characteristics; Sleep; Sleep Apnea Syndromes - epidemiology; sleep-disordered breathing; Surveys and Questionnaires
• ISSN: 0277-0903; 1532-4303; 1532-4303
• DOI: 10.1080/02770903.2021.1897838

Children with severe asthma are underrepresented in studies of the relationship of sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) and asthma and little is known about sex differences of these relationships. We sought to determine the relationship of SDB with asthma control and lung function among boys and girls within a pediatric severe asthma cohort. Patients attending clinic visits at the Boston Children's Hospital Pediatric Severe Asthma Program completed the Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire (PSQ), Asthma Control Test (ACT) and Spirometry. The prevalence of SDB was defined as a PSQ score >0.33. We analyzed the association between PSQ score and both ACT score and spirometry values in mixed effect models, testing interactions for age and sex. Among 37 subjects, mean age was 11.8 years (4.4) and 23 (62.2%) were male, the prevalence of SDB was 43.2% (16/37). Including all 80 observations, there was a moderate negative correlation between PSQ and ACT scores (r=-0.46, p