Factors associated with bed sharing and sleep position in Thai neonates.

BACKGROUND: Sleep in a supine position and in a bed separate from but proximate to adults is recommended, in several Western countries, to prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Cultural differences and a lower rate of SIDS in Asian populations may affect concern with this problem and thus infant sleeping arrangements. Objective To study bed sharing and sleep position in Thai neonates and the relationship to infant and maternal characteristics. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey based on interviews with parents of infants aged 21 days old, was conducted under the Prospective Cohort Study of Thai Children. RESULTS: Of the total sample, 2236/3692 (60.6%) infants shared a bed with their parents. Sixty per cent of the parents placed their infants to sleep in a supine position, 32.2% on their side and 4.9% in a prone position. Bed sharing was associated with older maternal age, higher education, Muslim mother, and with work status of professional career or unemployed. Placing the infants to sleep in a prone position was associated with infant birth weight of greater than 2500 g, older maternal age, higher education, Buddhist mother, mother with professional career and middle-class household economic status. CONCLUSIONS: Infant bed sharing is a common practice in the Thai culture, as in other Asian countries. The prone sleep position is less common than in Western populations. The main factor associated with both bed sharing and putting infants to sleep in the prone position was a higher maternal socioeconomic status (SES), in contrast to previous studies in some Western countries in which both practices were associated with low maternal SES. Cultural differences may play an important role in these different findings.

Snoring and obstructive sleep apnea in Thai school-age children: prevalence and predisposing factors.

We studied the prevalence of habitual snoring and its associations with tonsillar size, allergic rhinitis, obesity, and parental smoking, as well as prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea (OSAS) in a sample of 1,142 children aged 6-13 years (mean, 7.25 +/- 0.58) from seven randomly selected schools in Hat yai, Southern Thailand. Eighty-five (8.5%) of the children were habitual snorers; the prevalence was the same in boys and girls. Significant and independent association was present between snoring and allergic rhinitis with an odds ratio of 5.27 (95% CI, 1.57-17.77). The odds ratio was significantly increased to 2.65 (CI, 1.31-5.39), 5.72 (CI, 2.67-12.25), and 11.06 (CI, 1.91-63.84) in children with tonsillar size of 2+, 3+, and 4+, respectively. Of the 85 habitual snorers, 69 could be contacted by telephone call or by hospital visit. Eight of these were reported to have at least one of the following symptoms: difficulty breathing during sleep, stop breathing at night, restless sleeping and frequent awakening, sleeping with the head tipped back, and a tendency to breathe through the mouth rather than the nose. Polysomnographic studies in these 8 children demonstrated an apnea/hypopnea index of 0.6-4.7 per hr. Seven children met the criteria for OSAS. Thus, our estimate of the prevalence of OSAS among Thai schoolchildren was 7/1,008 (0.69%). We have shown that the prevalence of habitual snoring was 8.5%, and the prevalence of OSAS in a sample of Asian school-age children in Southern Thailand was 0.69%, which was similar to that observed in Western populations. An association of snoring with tonsillar size or allergic rhinitis was demonstrated. All but one of the snoring children with sleep-related symptoms had OSAS, but all were mild cases.

Arrhythmogenic marker for the sudden unexplained death syndrome in Thai men.

BACKGROUND: Between 1981 and 1988, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a very high incidence of sudden death among young male Southeast Asians who died unexpectedly during sleep. The pattern of death has long been prevalent in Southeast Asia. We carried out a study to identify the clinical markers for patients at high risk of developing sudden unexplained death syndrome (SUDS) and long-term outcomes. METHODS AND RESULTS: We studied 27 Thai men (mean age, 39.7+/-11 years) referred because they had cardiac arrest due to ventricular fibrillation, usually occurring at night while asleep (n=17), or were suspected to have had symptoms similar to the clinical presentation of SUDS (n=10). We performed cardiac testing, including EPS and cardiac catheterization. The patients were then followed at approximately 3-month intervals; our primary end points were death, ventricular fibrillation, or cardiac arrest. A distinct ECG abnormality divided our patients who had no structural heart disease (except 3 patients with mild left ventricular hypertrophy) into two groups: group 1 (n=16) patients had right bundle-branch block and ST-segment elevation in V1 through V3, and group 2 (n=11) had a normal ECG. Group 1 patients had well-defined electrophysiological abnormalities: group 1 had an abnormally prolonged His-Purkinje conduction time (HV interval, 63+/-11 versus 49+/-6 ms; P=.007). Group 1 had a higher incidence of inducible ventricular fibrillation (93% for group 1 versus 11% for group 2; P=.0002) and a positive signal-averaged ECG (92% for group 1 versus 11% for group 2; P=.002), which was associated with a higher incidence of ventricular fibrillation or death (P=.047). The life-table analysis showed that the group 1 patients had a much greater risk of dying suddenly (P=.05). CONCLUSIONS: Right bundle-branch block and precordial injury pattern in V1 through V3 is common in SUDS patients and represents an arrhythmogenic marker that identifies patients who face an inordinate risk of ventricular fibrillation or sudden death.

Two faces of nocturnal tongue biting.

Tongue biting associated with tonic/clonic movements of the limbs is common in epileptic patients, however nocturnal tongue biting as the only manifestation of epilepsy is rare. It can be found in frontal lobe epilepsy. Two cases with the same manifestation of nocturnal tongue biting were presented. One was the result of parasomnias-rhythmic movement disorders (RMD) and the other was a result of nocturnal frontal lobe epilepsy. The definite diagnosis of these abnormal nocturnal events was documented by prolonged EEG monitoring and polysomnography with simultaneous video studies. To our knowledge, RMD presenting with nocturnal tongue biting has never been reported in Thailand. Even in the foreign journals it has rarely been reported. It is crucial to make a definite diagnosis of RMD and nocturnal epilepsy to avoid overtreatment in the former and undertreatment in the latter. Symptomatology, diagnostic approach with therapy of these disorders were reviewed.