Rychkova Liubov

Abstract: Sleep apnea (SA) can negatively affect adolescents’ cognitive functioning. There are main pathogenetic mechanisms of SA such as hypoxic burden and altered sleep homeostasis that could initiate brain damage. It is known that obesity aggravates cognitive changes in SA. Thus, it is of particular interest to evaluate the cognitive functions and their associations with polysomnographic (PSG) variables in SA adolescents. Fifty-five SA male adolescents aged 15-17 years (35 obese and 20 normal weights, NW) and 20 matched controls were included in the study. Wechsler intelligence test (WISC-IV) was used to evaluate the participants’ cognition. Spearman rank correlation analysis was performed to investigate the relationships between cognitive abilities against PSG variables. The PSG data showed that apnea/hypopnea index, desaturation index, arousal index, 1-2 stages, fragmentation index scores were significantly higher, while slow wave sleep and rapid eye movements time were significantly lower in adolescents with SA compared with controls. There was a tendency to higher SA severity in boys with obesity. Full-scale cognitive ability quotient (FSCAQ), visual-spatial index, fluid reasoning index, working memory index, and processing speed index (PSI) scores were significantly lower for SA obese boys. NW SA adolescents had significantly lower FSCAQ and PSI scores compared with those in controls. Significant correlations were found between verbal/nonverbal indexes and PSG variables in obese boys only. The study demonstrates that the cognitive status in adolescents with SA decreases with a predominant deterioration of nonverbal abilities. This trend is most clearly manifested with obesity, which aggravates both hypoxia and sleep fragmentation severities.

Speaker: Liubov V. Rychkova, ScD, prof., RAS corresponding member, is a Director of the «Scientific Center for Family Health and Human Reproduction Problems» (SC FHHRP), Irkutsk, Russia; Professor of the Basic Department of Medical Psychology of the SC FHHRP and the Irkutsk State University, Secretary of the Commission of the Scientific Council for Pediatrics of the Section of Clinical Medicine of the Department of Medical Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences, President of the Irkutsk Regional Branch of the Union of Pediatricians of Russia, Head of the Irkutsk Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Education, Member of the Association of Medical and Pharmaceutical Workers of the Irkutsk Region, Chairman of the Commission on Science and Education of the Irkutsk Region Public Chamber of the VIII convocation, Member of the Board of the Public Council under the Ministry of Health of the Irkutsk Region, Member of the Coordinating Council of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian Academy of Education "Health and Education of Children, Adolescents, and Youth", Member of the Expert Council on Demographic Development in the Irkutsk Region under the Legislative Assembly of the Irkutsk Region. Rychkova L.V. is a Deputy Editor-in-Chief of journal «Acta Biomedica Scientifica» (Scopus). She obtained her Ph.D. (1997) and D.Sc. (2004) in pediatrics and pathophysiology. The main focus of her research interests is the study of fundamental mechanisms of childhood disease development as a basis for the development of new diagnostic, treatment, and rehabilitation technologies. Rychkova L.V. is scientific supervision of 11 scientific theses. She is author more than 670 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals, from them 396 publications in bases Web of Sciences and Scopus, 15 monographs, 7 methodical recommendations, and 39 protected intellectual property rights.