INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana University School of Medicine researchers have identified a strong connection between poor sleep patterns and the severity of asthma in children with the lung disease. Their findings, recently published in Pediatric Allergy and Immunology, could help pediatricians and caregivers identify children at higher risk for severe asthma complications and intervene earlier to improve long-term health outcomes.
According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, five million children are estimated to have asthma in the United States, making it the most common childhood chronic disease. The condition causes inflammation in the airways and results in symptoms such as coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath. While asthma has no cure, it can be effectively managed with proper monitoring and treatment.
“We utilized readily available electronic health record and sleep study data to create a predictive algorithm for a child's risk of severe asthma attacks rather than relying on a history of symptoms alone,” said Anuja Bandyopadhyay, MD, associate professor of clinical pediatrics at the IU School of Medicine and first author of the study. “This allows us to identify the population at risk and take early, aggressive measures to prevent exacerbations.”
The research team analyzed data from a cohort of 161 children with moderate or severe asthma who had undergone sleep studies at Riley Children’s Health. Their results showed that male patients with asthma who slept poorly had fragmented sleep and were at increased risk for severe asthma attacks, regardless of how well their asthma was otherwise controlled — a pattern not observed in female patients. Additionally, the researchers found that children who were prescribed medications to improve their sleep had a lower risk of severe asthma exacerbation. The team plans to explore their initial discoveries further in future studies.
“Our goal is to continue combining electronic health record data, sleep parameters and sleep microstructure data to refine a predictive algorithm for asthma exacerbation,” said Arthur Owora, PhD, associate professor of pediatrics at the IU School of Medicine, research scientist at Regenstrief Institute and co-author of the study.
Because adequate sleep is known to improve heart, brain and metabolic functions, the study further highlights the importance of including sleep assessments in pediatric asthma care. A child’s detailed sleep history, including notes about difficulty falling or staying asleep, snoring or nighttime coughing, can offer valuable insight into a child’s health.
Bandyopadhyay, who is also a pediatric pulmonologist and sleep physician at Riley Children’s, said that if a child with asthma is also having trouble sleeping, it may be a sign the child needs medical attention.
“Difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep or snoring can be signs of other sleep disorders, while nighttime coughing can suggest suboptimal asthma control,” she said. “It’s important for parents and guardians to ask their children about these symptoms so they can get the medical help that they need.”
Additional IU study authors from the Division of Pediatric Pulmonology, Allergy and Sleep Medicine in the Department of Pediatrics include Bowen Jiang and Yash Shah.
This research was supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health.
About the Indiana University School of Medicine
The IU School of Medicine is the largest medical school in the U.S. and is annually ranked among the top medical schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. The school offers high-quality medical education, access to leading medical research and rich campus life in nine Indiana cities, including rural and urban locations consistently recognized for livability. According to the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research, the IU School of Medicine ranks No. 13 in 2024 National Institutes of Health funding among all public medical schools in the country.
Writer: Jackie Maupin, jacmaup@iu.edu
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