Funding outcome

Snoring affects 10% of all Canadian children aged Oto 14 years. Snoring children have reported more learning and behavior problems such as ADHD. Parents describe possible long-term learning and behavior delays as a key reason for seeking out care. Sadly, over 60% of our requests are for sleep problems with a resulting 1-year wait list to see a pediatric sleep expert. Neither sleep tests, blood work predicts which snoring children are at the highest risk of developing learning or mental health problems. Metabolites are small molecules that you produce as a result of metabolism. Urine is easy to collect, and is rich in small molecules. A simple urine test, that measures metabolites, may help clinicians provide timely care for snoring. We plan to study urine samples in children with ongoing snoring. We hope to find a new way to detect harmful snoring. Early identification and treatment of snoring children has the greatest potential to prevent later learning and behavior problems. Objective: We propose to identify differences in urine metabolites between snoring and non-snoring children with a focus on identifying children with persistent sanoring symptoms earlier in their disease course. Experimental Approach: We will leverage data and urine samples available through Dr. Mandhane's snoring clinic (n=100) and the CHILD birth cohort study to identify urine metabolites associated with snoring. In the CHILD cohort, we have identified children with current snoring symptoms (n=160) and children who have never snored (n=300). Urine was collected on all the CHILD study participants. Urine metabolites will be obtained in collaboration with the Metabolomics Innovation Centre (TMIC) at the University of Alberta (Pl: Dr. Wishart). TMIC will process the urine samples and perform the urine metabolomics measurements. Statistical analysis will identify urine metabolites associated with pediatric snoring Leveraging funds: We have successfully obtained funds from the AllerGen NCE to complete the proposed metabolomics profiling. Funding from WCHRI will be used to support a post-doctoral fellow to analyze the metabolomic data. Potential impact: Childhood snoring is a chronic condition associated with significant cognitive delay and mental health morbidity. There exists no gold-standard test for identifying young snoring children at risk for subsequent morbidities. Development of a non-invasive metabolomics biomarker provides an opportunity to identify children earlier in the course of their disease to provide timely treatment in the hopes of preventing later learning problems.