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Both central and obstructive respiratory events are features of sleep disordered breathing. The repetitive hypoxia associated with obstructive events is believed to underpin the adverse neurocognitive and cardiovascular sequelae of this disorder, however whether central events contribute to this has not been investigated. To compare changes in cerebral and peripheral oxygenation, blood pressure and heart rate, associated with central and obstructive events in children aged 3-6 and 7-12 years.

Children with sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) exhibit behavioral, cognitive, and autonomic deficits, suggestive of neural injury. We assessed whether the tissue alterations resulted from acute or chronic processes, and whether alterations correlated with disease severity.