Validation of a pediatric obstructive sleep apnea screening tool

Objective: Pediatric obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a prevalent but under-diagnosed disease. The importance of screening for OSA in every child has been recently re-emphasized by the American Academy of Pediatrics Guidelines. Although several screening questionnaires are available for pediatric OSA, they are either complicated to use or not sensitive enough, and therefore OSA is seldom screened in primary care settings. Here, we validated a previously developed short (6-item) hierarchically-based screening questionnaire tool for pediatric OSA. Methods: Parents of 85 children referred for a sleep study at a pediatric community-based sleep clinic completed the questionnaire and their children underwent an overnight PSG. Receiver operator curve analyses and other predictive scales were assessed. Results: The 6-item questionnaire exhibited favorable sensitivity and fair specificity for diagnosis of OSA, which varied depending on the apnea-hypopnea index used for OSA definition. Conclusions: A 6-item questionnaire is a sensitive and easy-to-use screening tool for pediatric OSA in a pediatric sleep clinic setting.