Serous Background:
There are few studies assessing the clinical manifestations of sleep
breathing disorders and polysomnograms in several pediatric age ranges. This
studied aimed to assess polysomnography results such as apnea-hypopnea index,
mean oxygen saturation and sleep efficiency in children presenting with airway
obstruction and adenotonsillar hypertrophy complaints, and to establish
whether they are correlated to age and sex. Methods: A retrospective study with children of both sexes, aged
between 2 and 12 years, with clinically suspected obstructive sleep apnea
syndrome and adenotonsillar hypertrophy, who underwent polysomnography before
surgery. The children were allocated to groups according to their age range (Group
I: 2 to 4 years old; Group II: 5 to 8 years old; Group III: 9 to 12 years old).
Apnea-hypopnea index, mean oxygen saturation and sleep efficiency data were
compared between sexes and among the three groups (Student’s t test, p <
0.05). Results: Of 167 children
studied by polysomnography, 76.6% were of school age and 67% were male. For all
studied age ranges, there was no difference between sexes for the investigated
parameters (body mass index, apnea-hypopnea index, mean oxygen
saturation and sleep efficiency). As regards mean oxygen saturation, Group I showed
the lowest value (89.9 ± 6.2). Apnea-hypopnea indexes were higher in male
children aged between 2 and 4 years (9.9 ± 5.2). Group III had the lowest sleep efficiency (84.1
± 9.2). Conclusion: There was a
predilection of more severe cases of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome for children younger than four years, shown by higher apnea-hypopnea index per hour and
lower mean oxygen saturation in this age range.
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