Validating the Lithuanian version of the STOP-BANG questionnaire for diagnosing obstructive sleep apnea

The aim of this study was to prepare and validate the Lithuanian version of the STOP-BANG questionnaire and evaluate its correlation with polysomnography results.

In this study, we included patients ≥ 18 years of age who underwent overnight polysomnography between January 1 in 2018 and January 1 in 2019. All patients completed the STOP-BANG questionnaire before polysomnography. To assess the adequacy of the questionnaire, we used contingency tables and areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve.

The study included 236 patients. The mean age of the patients was 55.2 ± 11.5 years and 159 (68%) were men. The mean apnea-hypopnea index for the entire study group was 33.8 ± 28.4, and the mean STOP-BANG score was 5.4 ± 1.6 points. Moderate (0.3-0.7, p < 0.05) correlations were found between the STOP-BANG questionnaire scores and all measured objective anthropometric and polysomnography parameters. The questionnaire's Cronbach's alpha score was 0.408. Based on the analysis of the ROC curves, the cut-off STOP-BANG score of 3 points showed a sensitivity of 87% and a specificity of 50% (AUC = 0.717) for the identification of any OSA. The positive predictive value (PPV) for an identification of any OSA at a cut-off point of 3 was 96%, and the negative predictive value (NPV) was 26%.

The linguistic and cultural adaptation of the Lithuanian version of the STOP-BANG questionnaire was carried out in accordance with international recommendations. The Lithuanian version of the STOP-BANG questionnaire is characterized by high sensitivity and average specificity in diagnosing OSA.