Sleep Apnea and Stuttering Linked

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B. Fisher

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Sleep apnea, stuttering may be linked

Tuesday, November 19, 2002 Posted: 9:22 AM EST (1422 GMT)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Stuttering and a serious form of snoring known as

sleep apnea may be linked, and both conditions may be caused by brain damage

sustained early in life, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

A team at the University of California Los Angeles found that nearly 40

percent of sleep apnea patients they studied also stuttered as children.

Sleep apnea is a serious form of snoring in which a patient's breathing

actually stops several times a night. It is linked with a high rate of heart

death.

" For decades, we have blamed sleep apnea solely on a narrowed airway caused

by enlarged tonsils, a small jaw or excess fat in the throat, " Dr.

Harper, a professor of neurobiology who led the study, said in a statement.

" Our findings show, however, that sleep apnea patients also suffer

disordered wiring in brain regions that control muscles of the airway. These

glitches may lead to the syndrome. "

Writing in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine,

Harper and his colleagues said they used magnetic resonance imaging to

compare the brains of 21 men diagnosed with sleep apnea with 21 men free of

the disorder.

The MRIs revealed a dramatic loss of gray matter -- brain cells -- in the

men with sleep apnea. The worst-hit areas were those involved in speech

production, movement and emotion.

The amount of brain damage correlated directly to the severity of sleep

apnea. The healthy men's brains were 2 percent to 18 percent larger in these

areas than the men with sleep apnea.

" We propose that early damage to the brain's speech center triggers problems

in the muscles that control the airway. This, in turn, eventually leads to

sleep apnea, " said Dr. Macey, who also worked on the study.

" Because the sleep apnea patients possessed speech impairments from

childhood and their brain's speech center revealed significant gray matter

loss, this brain damage likely originated early in life. "

The researchers said 38 percent of the sleep apnea patients reported a

history of stuttering or speech impairment. Overall, 7 percent of the

general population stutters.

" Speech impediments may prove an important diagnostic clue for assessing and

treating sleep apnea, " Macey added. " In the future, doctors may monitor

certain brain structures and examine children for speech or movement

problems that may predict a higher sleep apnea risk. "