Decision-making in paediatric sleep disorders
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Characterising treatment pathways and decision-making in sleep-disordered breathing in childhood: a pilot study
IRAS ID
239892
Contact name
Steven Powell
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Newcastle Joint Research Office
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
R&D 8841,
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 10 months, 16 days
Research summary
Disturbances to a child's breathing during sleep are a common cause of concern for parents; 12% of children snore, and 2% have blockage of their breathing.
In most cases there are no long-term effects, and some children will improve over time without surgery. However there is no good evidence about the right way to treat these children or indeed, whether treatment is always necessary.
Therefore every year, 16000 children in the UK have their adenoids and tonsils taken out under general anaesthetic, at a cost of £30m to the NHS. This surgery has benefits but also risks, especially bleeding; in very rare cases the complications can be life-threatening.
In the future, we wish to carry out a large trial to show clearly the best way of treating these children, by comparing surgery with watchful waiting. This will help families and doctors to balance the risks and benefits, and will allow the NHS to publish guidance about best treatment.
In this current study, we want to understand the issues that concern parents and doctors; these might be fears of a more serious problem, the disturbance of the snoring sound to other family members, or the effects on daytime activities.
We will measure symptoms carefully in around 200 young patients who attend our clinics over a 9-month period by asking them or their families to fill in questionnaires about their symptoms.
In addition we will conduct more detailed interviews with a small group of these families, GPs and hospital doctors to learn how they view the problems and make decisions about sleep breathing problems of children in their care.
This will give a better understanding of the care pathway for these children, and of what is important to the well-being and peace of mind for parents and children. It will help us apply for funding for a larger study evaluating the benefits of surgery, where we will measure our success against the most important factors identified here.
REC name
South Central - Hampshire B Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/SC/0378
Date of REC Opinion
11 Jul 2018
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion