Worried About Snoring in Children? Try New Nasal Spray

Snoring and breathing difficulties during sleep affect about 12 percent of children and can also cause significant long-term issues impacting cognitive function, behavior, and cardiovascular health.

Advertisement

To find a solution to these problems, researchers looked into the simple treatment of nasal sprays. Nasal sprays work by cleaning the nose and/or reducing inflammation not just in the nose but down the back of the throat to the adenoids and tonsillar tissue (1^✔ ✔Trusted Source
Steroid Nasal Sprays

Go to source

).

Do Saline Nasal Sprays Work for Snoring Problems in Children?

In this new study, a randomized-controlled ‘MIST’ trial of the sprays involved 276 children, aged 3-12 years, and was carried out at The Royal Children’s Hospital and Monash Children’s Hospital.

The findings stated both nasal sprays cleared symptoms while asleep in about 40 percent of cases and those assessed by a surgeon as needing their tonsils and/or adenoids removed were reduced by half.

The study found a saline (salt water) nasal spray was just as effective as an anti-inflammatory steroid nasal spray at easing sleep-disordered breathing in children after six weeks of treatment (2^✔ ✔Trusted Source
JAMA Pediatrics

Go to source).

This study also suggests that children who snore and have breathing difficulties could be managed successfully by their primary care physician, without referring them to specialists.

Using this cheaper and readily available treatment would increase the quality of life of these children, reduce the burden on specialist services, decrease surgery waiting times and reduce hospital costs.

References:

1. Steroid Nasal Sprays – (https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/steroid-nasal-sprays/)
2. JAMA Pediatrics – (https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics)

Source: Medindia