Context

Longitudinal studies suggest that various sleep disturbances predict emotional and behavioural difficulties, as well as neuropsychological functioning and possibly even obesity. Sleep disordered breathing (SDB), the focus of this manuscript, may be associated with sleep impairment as well as atypical gas-exchange, which could impact negatively on the prefrontal cortex. Alarmingly, it has been suggested that SDB could lead to brain damage—underscoring the need to further understand the links between SDB and behaviour. The current report does just that, by prospectively examining SDB symptom trajectories in children aged 6–69 months and associations with behaviour at 4 and 7 years of age.