Clinical manifestations of pediatric obstructive sleep apnea syndrome: Clinical utility of the Chinese-version Obstructive Sleep Apnea Questionaire-18.

AIMS: Childhood obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSA) affects not only the children's physical health, but also their mental development, behavioral problems and learning difficulties. Therefore, an early diagnosis is important. However, the assessment tools of polysomnography are demanding. The Obstructive Sleep Apnea Questionnaire-18 (OSA-18) is designed to screen OSA and has good reliability and validity. The goal of this study was to validate the Chinese version of the OSA-18, to analyze the frequency of symptoms and find the most common symptoms of OSA in Taiwanese children.

METHODS: We validated the OSA-18 in an ethnic Chinese group and compared the treatment outcomes to show the sensitivity of the questionnaire. The caregivers completed the questionnaire twice at an interval of 4 weeks to test reliability. In the validation study, we included 88 OSA children. The OSA-18 and follow-up polysomnography were performed before and 6 months after adenotonsillectomy.

RESULTS: Results showed the excellent test-retest reliability (r = 0.84**) of the OSA-18. There was a statistically significant correlation between the OSA-18 and, respectively, the Apnea-Hypopnea Index (r = 0.29*), and the Hypopnea Index (r = 0.29*). Quality of life showed a significant correlation with the Apnea Index (r = 0.43**), central apnea count (r = 0.50***), and mixed apnea count (r = 0.36*). The cut-off point of the OSA-18 total scores for detecting pediatric OSA in children aged 6-12 years was 66. The common symptoms of pediatric OSA were poor attention span, loud snoring, caregiver worried about child's health, difficulty awakening, and mouth breathing.

CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that the Chinese version of the OSA-18 is a reliable and valid instrument. The questionnaire also showed improvement in the quality of life of OSA children post-adenotonsillectomy.