Obstructive sleep apnea risk factors and symptoms in children with a known parental obstructive sleep apnea diagnosis

To document symptoms and risk factors of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in children who have a parent diagnosed with OSA and compare them to an age and sex matched sample where parents are low risk for OSA.

We recruited 25 children with a parent diagnosed with OSA (P-OSA) and 29 age and gender matched children from the community whose parents scored low risk for OSA (P-NOSA). Comparisons were made using the OSA-18 questionnaire, anthropometric measurements, and mallampati score. Statistical analysis included t-tests for OSA-18 score and BMI measures and non parametric analysis for mallampati score. OSA-18 domain scores were analysed using T-test and Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons.

Fifty-six percent of the P-OSA group had a mallampati score of III/IV compared to 11% in the P-NOSA sample (p = 0.005). There was a significant difference in BMI between the P-OSA sample (mean ± SD 19.5 ± 5.7 kg/m²) and the P-NOSA sample (16.95 ± 2.08 kg/m², p = 0.002). Forty-four percent of P-OSA children were found to be either overweight or obese (BMI z-score). None of the P-NOSA children fell into this category. No significant difference was found between the P-OSA and P-NOSA samples on the OSA-18 score (P-OSA 36.5 ± 8.1, P-NOSA 29.2 ± 9.1, p = 0.07). Five children in the P-OSA sample scored >60 but no P-NOSA children scored >60.

This study suggests that children with a parent diagnosed with OSA are more likely to have risk factors of pediatric OSA compared to age and sex matched children of parents without OSA but do not have more symptoms.