TY - JOUR T1 - Childhood obstructive sleep apnoea and elevated blood pressure: A longitudinal follow-up study JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J VL - 40 IS - Suppl 56 SP - 4309 AU - Albert Li AU - Chun T. Au AU - Crover Ho AU - Yun K. Wing Y1 - 2012/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/40/Suppl_56/4309.abstract N2 - Background and Objective: Childhood obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is a prevalent condition, and is associated with raised blood pressure (BP) in cross-sectional studies. This study aimed to investigate if baseline or changes in OSA severity could predict BP changes over a 4-year period.Methods and Results: Children who participated in our previous OSA prevalence study were invited to undergo repeat overnight sleep study and ambulatory 24-hr BP monitoring at 4-year follow-up. One hundred and ninety-one (62% out of 306) subjects took part in this follow-up study. Children with baseline moderate-to-severe OSA (OAHI >5/hr) had significantly higher BP at follow-up than controls. The change in OAHI was positively associated with the changes in wake and sleep systolic BP. Path analysis revealed a best-fit model in which log-transformed baseline OAHI and change in OAHI were both independent predictors for change in sleep systolic BP, after adjusting for baseline sleep systolic BP, gender, height and body mass index z score.Conclusions: In the first longitudinal study that examined relationship between OSA and BP in children, we found baseline OSA severity could predict systolic BP at 4-year follow-up. The change in OAHI was associated with the change in sleep systolic BP, independent of obesity and weight gain. The results are clinically relevant since elevated BP in childhood is a well-known risk factor for future cardiovascular adverse events. Early diagnosis and intervention should thus be advocated in the management of childhood OSA. ER -