Cellular senescence and sleep in childhood and adolescence: A scoping review focusing on sleep-disordered breathing

Background: Sleep is a fundamental and complex physiological process whose duration decreases and characteristics change with age. Around 50% of children will experience sleep disturbances at some point in their early life. Sleep disturbances can result in a number of deleterious consequences, including alterations in the levels of cellular senescence (CS) markers. CS is a complex process essential for homeostasis characterized by the irreversible loss of cell proliferation capacity; however, the accumulation of senescent cells can lead to age-related diseases. Objective: In this review, our objective was to gather information about the relationship between sleep duration, sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) and cellular senescence markers, namely: oxidative stress, inflammation, insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), and growth hormone (GH) in newborns, children, and teenagers. Methods: To achieve this, we searched six databases: MEDLINE, Scopus, LILACS, Web of Science, Embase, and SciELO, and identified 20 articles that met our inclusion criteria. Results: Our results show that better sleep quality and duration and, both the surgical and non-surgical treatment of sleep disorders are associated with a reduction in oxidative stress, inflammation, and telomeric attrition levels. Furthermore, our results also show that surgical treatment for SDB significantly reduced the levels of cellular senescence markers. Further studies need to be conducted in this area, particularly longitudinal studies, for a greater understanding of the mechanisms involved in the relationship between sleep and senescence. Conclusion: Better sleep quality and duration were associated with less oxidative stress, inflammation, and telomeric attrition and a higher level of IGF-1 in children and teenagers.