A Novel Screening Tool for Severe Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Purpose: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a prevalent condition with long waiting lists for the gold standard polysomnography (PSG) test. Screening tests are essential to identify and prioritize patients with severe OSA. Current questionnaires do not accurately detect severe cases. This study aims to develop an alternative screening tool based on anthropometric and morphological characteristics to determine the severity of OSA. Methods: The study included 149 patients with sleep apnea symptoms who did not have additional diseases. The obstructive sleep apnea morphologic scale (OSAMS) was created using 5 parameters: 3 internal parameters related to the upper respiratory tract (tonsil size, oropharyngeal passage, and hypopharyngeal-laryngeal examination) and 2 external parameters (neck circumference and body mass index). Each parameter was scored, and the total scores were correlated with the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) of PSG to determine the severity of OSA. Results: A statistically significant moderate positive correlation was found between AHI and OSAMS scores (rho = .491; P < .001). A grand total score >4 provided 80.3% sensitivity and 53.9% specificity to identify patients with severe OSA. OSAMS demonstrated superior results compared to existing questionnaires for OSA screening in our study group. Conclusions: OSAMS is a potential alternative to existing questionnaires to screen patients with severe OSA, offering a practical approach based on morphology during physical examinations.