Asthma and Cognitive Development in Children: A Potential Link

Asthma is not explicitly linked to reduced cognitive functioning in children. However, children with asthma, and in particular those children with night-time asthma, do exhibit lower scores on cognitive function tests.

Sleep Disturbance

• Children with nocturnal asthma, which is asthma that worsens at night, have more disturbed sleep than non-asthmatics. These children with nocturnal asthma do not perform as well on some memory and concentration tests.

Circadian Peak Expiratory Flow Variation

• Circadian peak expiratory flow (PEF) shows that PEF peaks in the late afternoon and is at its lowest level in the very early morning. A study conducted by Els J. M. Weersink and colleagues demonstrated that a large variation in circadian peak expiratory flow resulted in lower daytime cognitive functioning.

Symptom Perception

• Children with lower results on cognitive tests, in particular those test that measure ability to pay attention, were less able to assess and manage asthma symptoms.

Recall

• According to a study published in the Archives of Diseases in Childhood, children with asthma scored significantly worse than non-asthmatics on delayed recall tests. They also trended towards poorer performance on immediate recall tests.

Sustained Attention

• The same study indicated that children with asthma scored slightly lower on tests related to sustained attention.