Therefore, nocturnal symptoms indicating the presence of OSA (e.g. snoring, gasping, restless sleep and excessive energy used to breathe during sleep) are associated with daytime symptoms such as concentration and learning difficulties and irritability, neurocognitive development impairment, decreased school performance and behavioral difficulties. For example, SDB such as OSA contributes to hyperactive behavior that can lead to the diagnosis and treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, once the SDB is treated, the hyperactive behavior can improve, and the treatment can be stopped. Obesity also has an impact on the consequences of OSA and lead to different manifestations or severity. Studies have shown that, contrary to adults, children with obstructive sleep-disordered breathing are able to maintain cerebral oxygenation. However, the condition still has effects on the brain and can lead to adverse neurocognitive and behavioral sequelae. It is particularly concerning as those consequences happen while the brain is still developing. The degree to which the sleep is disturbed and fragmented has been significantly linked to the severity of the consequences, the latter having the possibility to decrease once the sleep is improved. It is more the disruption of sleep processes than the total amount of sleep the child experience that generates the adverse consequences on the childs daytime functioning; it contributes to the hyperactivity for example.Children with OSA may experience learning and memory deficits and OSA has also been linked to lowered childhood IQ scores.
Speech and memory test
Another use for etomidate is to determine speech lateralization in people prior to performing lobectomies to remove epileptogenic centres in the brain. This is called the etomidate speech and memory test, or eSAM, and is used at the Montreal Neurological Institute. However, only retrospective cohort studies support the use and safety of etomidate for this test. Steroidogenesis inhibitor
In addition to its action and use as an anesthetic, etomidate has also been found to directly inhibit the enzymatic biosynthesis of steroid hormones, including corticosteroids in the adrenal gland. As the only adrenal steroidogenesis inhibitor available for intravenous or parenteral administration, it is useful in situations in which rapid control of hypercortisolism is necessary or in which oral administration is unfeasible. Use in executions
The U.S. state of Florida used the drug in a death penalty procedure when Mark James Asay, 53, was executed on August 24, 2017. He became the first person in the U.S. to be executed with etomidate as one of the drugs. Etomidate replaces midazolam as the sedative. Drug companies have made it harder to buy midazolam for executions. The etomidate was followed by rocuronium bromide, a paralytic, and finally, potassium acetate in place of the commonly used potassium chloride injection to stop the heart. Potassium acetate was first used for this purpose inadvertently in a 2015 execution in Oklahoma. Adverse effects
Etomidate suppresses corticosteroid synthesis in the adrenal cortex by reversibly inhibiting 11β-hydroxylase, an enzyme important in adrenal steroid production; it leads to primary adrenal suppression.