O005 Deficits in learning and overnight memory consolidation in children with mild sleep disordered breathing

Abstract

Objectives

Sleep disordered breathing (SDB) is associated with sleep fragmentation that can compromise daytime learning and impact overnight memory consolidation. Yet, research into learning and overnight memory consolidation of children with SDB is very limited. The objective of the current study is to determine if school aged children with SDB show deficits in learning and overnight consolidation of declarative and non-declarative memories compared to healthy control (HC) children.

Methods

This study included 50 school aged (7-16 years) children (25 SDB, 25 HC) of comparable sex, parental SES, and BMI. Parents completed the paediatric sleep questionnaire (PSQ) for all children. Children with SDB underwent an overnight sleep study. All children completed a cognitive battery, including assessment of IQ and memory. We employed two declarative memory tasks, one verbal and one visual, and one non-declarative memory task. We measured learning and recall at two delays (30 minutes and overnight) on memory tasks.

Results

On the visual declarative memory task children with SDB performed more poorly in learning, and recalled significantly fewer pictures following a night of sleep, compared to HC. On the non-declarative task learning of children with SDB and HC children was comparable but following a night of sleep accuracy improved less in the SDB group compared to the HC group.

Discussion

This study provides, to our knowledge for the first time, evidence of impairment of overnight declarative and non-declarative memory consolidation concurrently in school aged children with mild SDB, whose declarative (but not non-declarative) learning was also impaired.