Epidemiological Study of Parental Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Subsequent Risk of ADHD in Their Children: A Nationwide Population-Based Study

Objective: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), with daytime drowsiness, nocturnal hypoxia, could result in systemic inflammation and oxidative damage. We hypothesize that parental OSA, with chronic systemic inflammation and oxidative stress, might contribute to children’s neurodevelopmental disorders, such as ADHD. Method: By linking National Birth Registry with the National Health Insurance Research Database, Taiwan, we identified 2006–2015 birth cohort, which comprised 1,723,873 singleton live births, and conducted a nested case-control study. We included children with ADHD and compared them with non-ADHD controls matched with ADHD case on index date. Conditional logistic regression was utilized to calculate adjusted odds ratio (aOR) when investigating the association between parental diseases with risk of ADHD in their offspring. Results: The aOR (95% CI) of offspring’s ADHD was 1.758 (1.458–2.119) with paternal OSA and 2.159 (1.442–3.233) with maternal OSA. The subgroup analysis revealed different effects of parental diseases among children’s gender. Conclusion: Our study demonstrates an association in parental OSA and offspring ADHD, which could inspire further research to clarify the mechanisms.