The Use of Psychomotor Vigilance Testing in the Assessment of Pediatric Obstructive Sleep Apnea (PVT)

University of Arkansas

Status: Completed

Conditions: Pediatric Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Treatments: Device: Psychomotor Vigilance Testing

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01276860

112316

Details and patient eligibility

About

Obstructive sleep apnea results in decreased attentiveness and response times in patients. The objective of this study is to quantify these consequences in pediatric OSA patients using an already established tool for examining the results of sleep deprivation and fragmentation: psychomotor vigilance testing. PVT has been used in children, but has not been studied in pediatric OSA patients. This study aims to employ PVT along the normal course of diagnosis and treatment of pediatric OSA patients in our clinical practice at Arkansas Children's Hospital. The investigators hypothesize that pediatric OSA patients will exhibit decreased PVT scoring when compared to children without OSA, and that PVT can be used to diagnose and monitor treatment outcomes in these patients.

Enrollment: 7 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 6 to 18 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Healthy pediatric patients ages 6-18 years old
• with symptoms of OSA (snoring, pauses in sleep breathing, restless sleep, frequent arousals, excellive daytime sleepiness, morning headaches)
• with physical exam findings consistent with adenotonsillar hypertrophy
• those identified as good candidates for adenotonsillectomy
• who are to undergo a polysomnogram as part of their preoperative work-up

Exclusion criteria

• History of attention deficit disorder, developmental delay, or mental retardation
• Children taking any neurotropic medications (including antiepileptics, antidepressives, and stimulants)
• Children previously treated for OSA (surgically or medically)
• Children with significant comorbidities including other sleep-related disorders

Trial design

Primary purpose: Diagnostic

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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7 participants in 1 patient group

Psychomotor Vigilance Testing

Other group

Description:

The purpose of this study is to examine the use of psychomotor vigilance testing (PVT) as a tool in the diagnosis and prediction of pediatric obstructive sleep apnea. PVT simply involves responding to a light by pressing a button on a small handheld device. It is a simple measure of reaction time.

Treatment:

Device: Psychomotor Vigilance Testing