Quality of Life for Children with Obstructive Sleep Apnea

TLDR

Caregivers of 61 children aged 6 months to 12 years completed a 20‑item OSA‑20 quality‑of‑life survey after polysomnography to psychometrically validate the instrument. The OSA‑20 showed excellent test‑retest reliability (R > 0.74) and construct validity (R = 0.43 with respiratory distress index and adenoid size); after dropping two poorly‑valid items the refined OSA‑18 retained validity, remained significant after adjustment for tonsil size, adenoid size, BMI, and age, and classified 33 % of children as having small, 31 % moderate, and 36 % large quality‑of‑life impact, confirming its practicality for office‑based assessment.

Abstract

The caregivers of 61 eligible children (6 months to 12 years old) completed a 20‐item (OSA‐20) health‐related quality‐of‐life survey after polysomnography was performed to psychometrically validate the OSA‐20. Excellent test‐retest reliability was obtained for the individual survey items ( R > 0.74). Construct validity was shown by significant correlation of the mean survey score with the respiratory distress index ( R = 0.43) and adenoid size ( R = 0.43). Two items with poor validity were dropped, reducing the survey to 18 items (OSA‐18). The relationship between the OSA‐18 summary score and respiratory distress index remained significant when adjusted for tonsil size, adenoid size, body mass index, and child age. On the basis of the total survey score, the impact of OSAS on quality of life was small for 20 children (33%), moderate for 19 (31%), and large for 22 (36%). The OSA‐18 is a practical means of office‐based determination of quality‐of‐life impact for obstructive sleep apnea syndrome in children.