Apraxia in children and adults with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.

Study Objectives: Early in life impairment of orofacial growth leads to sleep-disordered breathing (SDB). Normal lingual gnosis and praxis are part of this early development related to the normal sensorimotor development of the tongue and surrounding oral musculature. The aim of this retrospective study was to explore if lingual praxia is impaired in both SDB children and adults and if there is an association to craniofacial morphology.
Methods: The ability to perform simple tongue maneuvers was investigated in 100 prepubertal SDB children and 150 SDB adults (shown with polysomnography). All individuals had a clinical investigation by specialists to assess any orofacial growth impairment and the elements potentially behind this impairment. In a subgroup of individuals both able and unable to perform the maneuvers, we also performed a blind recognition of forms placed in the mouth.
Results: A subgroup of pediatric and adult SDB patients presented evidence not only of orofacial growth impairment, but also apraxia independent of age and severity of OSA.
Conclusions: By 3 years of age, children should be able to perform requested tongue maneuvers and have oral form recognition. Abnormal gnosis-praxis was noted, independent of age in SDB children and adults, demonstrating that an abnormal functioning of the tongue in the oral cavity during early development can be detected. Both children and adults with SDB may present similar absences of normal oral development very early in life and a similar presentation of apraxia, suggesting that the distinction of SDB in children versus adults may not be relevant.
(© Sleep Research Society 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Sleep Research Society. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail journals.permissions@oup.com.)