Psychomotor assessment in sleep breathing disorder children – pilot study

Introduction The Sleep Disordered Breathing (SDB) affects important cognitive functions concerning to the learning process as attention, memory, and creativity, but just a little is known about the motor performance in those children. Suitable psychomotor development promotes better school learning. An assessment of the development and motor pattern contributes as preventive and reeducative to help or delete factors impeding the learning potential of the child. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the psychomotor bases (fine motor coordination, global motor coordination, static and dynamic balance, body and image scheme, spatial and temporal organization) are impaired in SDB children. Materials and methods We studied 9 children (5 girls) from 7 to 11 years, attending elementary school in Sao Paulo city, Brazil. All children had SBD diagnosed with polysomnography and the psychomotor assessment was evaluated with Motor Development Scale (MDS). We compared children‘s motor performance with the expected for children at the same age. Results The children had, on average, Total Sleep Time 412 ± 47.6 min, minimal oxygen saturation of 89% ± 0.05, arousal index of 8.1 ± 8.8 events/h, and sleep latency of 48 ± 56 min. The average age of the children was 9.2 ± 1.1 years. The results showed that the psychomotor assessment with MDS was lower than expected for their age in all children: 8 children (89%) in fine motor coordination, 6 children (67%) in global motor coordination, 8 children (89%) in static and dynamic balance, 5 (55.5%) in body and image scheme, 7 (78%) in spatial organization, and 5 (55.5%) in temporal organization. The laterality (eye, hand, and foot) of children was full left-handed or right-handed in 55% of them and cross lateralization in 45%. Conclusion Children with SDB showed lower performance than expected for children of the same age in all psychomotor bases, and it was more impaired in relation to fine motor coordination, global motor coordination static and dynamic balance, and spatial organization. Acknowledgements Acknowledgements for all children and families who took part in the study.