[Obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome in children is not associated with obesity].
OBJECTIVE
The prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) in the general pediatric population ranges from 1% to 3%. However, its prevalence in an unselected population of obese children is unknown. We studied the association between obesity and OSAHS in children diagnosed with the syndrome in a cohort of boys and girls (age range, 2-14 years) referred to the pediatric respiratory medicine outpatient clinic at our hospital for suspected apnea, snoring, or both over the past 5 years.


METHODS
The medical history of each patient was recorded and all patients underwent a physical examination, chest and nasal cavities radiography, and 8-channel respiratory polygraphy during sleep. The following variables were evaluated: sex, reason for consultation, source of referral, findings during upper airway examination, age, weight z-score (reflecting how much a finding differs from the mean and in what direction in a normally distributed sample), height z-score, body mass index (BMI) z-score, number of apneas, number of hypopneas, apnea index, hypopnea index, apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), oxygen saturation (mean and minimum) measured by pulse oximetry, number of snores, and snore index.


RESULTS
Of the 400 patients studied, 242 (60.5%) were male and 158 (39.5%) female. The mean age was 4.95 years. OSAHS (AHI> or =3) was diagnosed in 298 cases (74.5%) and these patients were then studied to determine the relation between OSAHS and obesity. The anthropometric distribution (expressed as mean [SD]) was as follows: weight z-score, 0.37 (1.31); height z-score, 0.23 (1.19); BMI, 17.063 kg/m(2) (2.51); and BMI z-score, 0.39 (1.36). The respiratory polygraph during sleep recorded an AHI of 6.56 (7.56).


CONCLUSIONS
No differences were observed between the height z-score, weight z-score, BMI z-score, age, and AHI. No association between obesity and OSAHS was found in this series. However, studies of larger, unselected populations are needed to determine if obesity is a risk factor for OSAHS in children.
Sardón
Olaia
O
Unidad de Neumología, Servicio de Pediatría, Hospital Donostia, San Sebastián, Guipúzcoa, España. osardon@chdo.osakidetza.net
Pérez-Yarza
Eduardo González
EG
Aldasoro
Ane
A
Bordoy
Andrea
A
Mintegui
Javier
J
Emparanza
José Ignacio
JI
D000234:Adenoids / Q000473:pathology; D000293:Adolescent; D000886:Anthropometry; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006984:Hypertrophy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D020181:Sleep Apnea, Obstructive / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*