title: Obstructive sleep apnea in children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the correlation between obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), obesity, behavior, and quality of life.
  
  
  METHODS
  Case-control study of pediatric OSA documented by polysomnography at a tertiary-care hospital.
  
  
  METHODS
  Caregivers signed a consent document and completed the Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC-2) and the 18-item OSA Quality-of-Life Survey (OSA-18) questionnaires. Demographic and polysomnographic data were collected. Children were classified as obese with OSA, normal weight with OSA, or primary snoring ([PS] normal weight, sleep-disordered breathing, no OSA). The correlation between OSA severity and the degree of obesity as well as behavior and quality of life were compared among the three groups. A P value ≤.05 was considered significant.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seventy-three patients were included in the study. Thirty-five children were obese with OSA (48%), 21 were of normal weight with OSA (29%), and 17 were considered PS (23%). There was no linear correlation between the degree of obesity and OSA severity. Apnea/hypopnea index was significantly higher for OSA-obese versus OSA-normal weight children (20.0 vs. 9.0, P = .02). The OSA-18 total score and BASC-2 mean score was worse for the OSA-obese than the OSA-normal group (P = .01 for both). There was no difference in quality-of-life scores or behavioral scores between the OSA-normal and PS groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The degree of obesity does not linearly predict OSA severity in children. Obese children have worse OSA, behavioral problems, and quality of life than normal-weight children. In normal-weight children with OSA or PS, behavior and quality-of-life scores are similar regardless of the severity of the sleep disorder.
  
  
  METHODS
  3b.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, St Louis, Missouri, USA.
authors.forename: Manasa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tripuraneni
authors.forename: Shalini
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Paruthi
authors.forename: Eric S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Armbrecht
authors.forename: Ron B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Mitchell
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D017286:Polysomnography; D015995:Prevalence; D011788:Quality of Life; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D020181:Sleep Apnea, Obstructive / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology