Diagnosis of pediatric obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome using a risk score based on polysomnography sleep video recordings: a pilot study

Objectives: Because access to sleep recordings is limited, there is a need for new reliable diagnostic tools for pediatric obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) diagnosis. A score calculated from a 30 minutes-home sleep videotape recording has already been proposed in 1996 with interesting results. The main objective of this pilot study was to assess the reliability of a similar score applied to reference PSG video recordings and calculated on two different time windows (30 and 10 minutes). Methods: Sixteen children suspected of OSAHS, aged between two and ten years, underwent video recording during overnight PSG. Video analysis was made during the second complete sleep cycle. A 30-minute risk score (RS30) and a 10-minute risk score (RS10) were established by analyzing seven parameters. The RS30 and RS10 were correlated with clinical examination data, a sleep questionnaire, the obstructive-apnea-hypopnea index (OAHI) and the oxygen desaturation index (ODI) from synchronized PSG results. Results: There was a significant correlation between both the RS30 and RS10, the OAHI and ODI. A RS30 ≥ 6.09 was predictive of an OAHI ≥ 5 per hour with a sensitivity of 83% and a specificity of 90%. A RS10 ≥ 6.50 was predictive of an OAHI ≥ 5 per hour with a sensitivity of 67% and a specificity of 100%. Conclusion: A risk score based on PSG video recordings shows a good correlation with PSG results, confirming previous reports. Further work should focus on applying this risk score to home sleep video recordings for the diagnosis of pediatric OSAHS.