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To estimate the frequency, mechanisms and predictive factors of sleep apnoea syndrome (SAS) in a large group of children and adults with type I (CMI) and II (CMII) Chiari malformation (CM).

The anatomical and functional integrity of both respiratory circuits and lower cranial nerves controlling the upper airway is necessary for breathing control during sleep. These latter structures may be altered in CM, and a few investigations have reported CM related sleep disordered breathing.

Forty-six consecutive unrelated patients with CM (40 CMI, six CMII), of which 20 were children (eight males) and 26 were adults (12 males), underwent physical, neurological and oto-rhino-laryngoscopic examination, MRI and polysomnography.

SAS was present in 31 (67.4%) of the patients with CM (70% of CMI, 50% of CMII, including mainly children). Sixty per cent of children with CM exhibited SAS …