The benefit of KidsO2 ring as a pre-screening device in pediatric obstructive sleep apnea

Several consumer-grade Wearable Wireless Continuous Pulse Oximeters (WWCPO) have been developed both for comfort and offering reasonable cost and advanced oximetric data to help clinicians detect significant Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) in children.

To evaluate the diagnostic performance of various parameters from consumer-grade WWCPO (KidsO2 ring) compared to the gold-standard polysomnography (PSG).

A cross-sectional study.

The Wellue KidsO2™ ring as hardware, and the Vi Health App as software.

Children aged 3-10 years, meeting the eligibility criteria, underwent simultaneous measurement with both PSG and the KidsO2 ring. Data from both devices were collected and analyzed statistically.

Eighty-three patients were enrolled, of whom 37 were female (44.6 %), with a mean age of 5.6 ± 1.8 years and a mean BMI of 17.8 ± 4.1 kg/m². The oxygen trend graphs, interpreted using the McGill Oximetry Score, showed high specificity (100 %) and positive predictive value (100 %) for moderate to severe OSA, although sensitivity was low (17.2 %). The recommended cut-off values for ODI>3 (Drops per hour>3) and ODI>4 (Drops per hour>4) to differentiate severe OSA from non-severe OSA are ≥4.6 and ≥ 2.8 events per hour, with specificity at 98.7 %.

The KidsO2 ring has shown benefits in evaluating children with suspected OSA. The use of oxygen trend graphs and ODI (Drops per hour) values from the KidsO2 ring effectively detected significant OSA, potentially expediting further investigations and treatment such as adenotonsillectomy.