Sleep-disordered breathing children: Measurement of nasal nitric oxide and fractional exhaled nitric oxide.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the clinical significance of nasal nitric oxide (nNO) and fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) concentrations in children with sleep-disordered breathing (SDB).

METHODS

Enrolled in this study were 30 children with SDB and 15 healthy children. The nNO and FeNO concentrations were measured noninvasively using a NIOX MINO system (Aerocrine AB, Solna, Sweden). SPSS statistics 20.0 software (IBM SPSS statistics 20.0, Armonk, NY, USA) was used to analyze the data.

RESULTS

The median (25th and 75th percentiles) nNO concentration of SDB children measured in parts per billion (ppb) was 111.0 (44.0; 349.0) ppb; FeNO concentration of SDB children was 12.0 (9.8; 14.0) ppb. The nNO concentration of healthy children was 52.0 (22.0; 139.0) ppb; FeNO concentration of healthy children was 12.0 (10.0; 16.0) ppb. Compared to healthy children, nNO concentration was significantly higher in children with SDB (Z = -2.215, P = 0.027). Correlation analysis showed that SDB children's nNO concentration directly correlated with apnea-hypopnea index (AHI; r = 0.429, P = 0.018), and inversely correlated with nadir oxygen saturation (SaO2; r = -0.482, P = 0.007). No other polysomnographic parameters significantly correlated with nNO concentration.

CONCLUSION

Our data suggest that nNO concentration might be useful for diagnosis and evaluation of disease severity in SDB children. Furthermore, these results suggest that nNO concentration has a greater prognostic value than FeNO concentration.