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Scientific News  Health care Diseases of system of nephroses and urinary bladder BREATHING TROUBLES THE CAUSE OF BED-WETTING?
BREATHING TROUBLES THE CAUSE OF
BED-WETTING?
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Could breathing difficulties be what
separates children who wet their beds from those who don't? (NASA) |
Could bed-wetting be linked to breathing
problems? In some cases, scientists think so and the solution could be quite
simple.
The intriguing possibility was first raised in follow-up research of children
with enlarged adenoids or tonsils removed. A study of 321 children in 2001 found
that more than a third wet their beds before to surgery, according to a paper in
the International
Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology. Of
these, 63% stop completely three months after surgery.
Other studies have produced similar results: one in Sweden and one Britain
showed that bed-wetting children with a narrow palate in the upper part of the
mouth were helped when a orthodontic device similar to braces were used to widen
their palate. Seven out of 10 children in the Swedish study, and all 10 in the
British research, improved after one month of using the device.
Scientists are not sure how breathing problems could cause bed-wetting, or
enuresis, which affects about one in 10 children aged 6. But there are a few
theories.
One is that breathing problems create a physical pressure in the abdomen that
stimulates urination. Another is that the breathing problems lead to low blood
oxygen concentrations, which in turn could affect level of hormones involved in
urine production.
Dr Derek Mahony, an orthodontist with the Prince
of Wales Hospital in Sydney, will soon begin a
study of 100 bed-wetting children to see if he comes up with the same findings.
He believes a narrow palate - rather than swollen adenoids or tonsils - could be
the cause of breathing problems.
"If his results confirm those of the smaller studies, it could help
persuade people to start taking the idea more seriously," he told New
Scientist magazine.
Mahony said that of the children referred to him at the hospital because of
bed-wetting problems, eight out of 10 have a narrow palate. In these cases,
orthodontic devices similar to a brace can be used to widen the palate.
"And it is not just children who could benefit," writes science
journalist, Sylvia Pagán Westphal in the magazine article. "Anecdotal
evidence suggests that some adults with breathing problems such as sleep apnoea
(brief breathing interruptions during sleep) also wet their beds."
The source of the given news and copyrights
belongs to
the ABC
Online News
Publishing date: August 5, 2003
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