Obesity and older age are significant predictors of the severity of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in children, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center and Children’s Health found.
The study was published in Laryngoscope Investigative Otolaryngology and led by Romaine F. Johnson, M.D., M.P.H., Professor of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at UT Southwestern and a pediatric otolaryngologist at Children’s Health.
Dr. Johnson’s team initially sought to better understand the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and pediatric OSA by studying the medical records of 249 children ages 18 years or younger who underwent a polysomnogram and adenotonsillectomy at Children’s Health during a one-year period.
Researchers used a metric called the area deprivation index (ADI) – which defines neighborhood-level disadvantages through 17 social determinants, such as education, employment, and poverty measures – to examine the effect of SES on pediatric OSA.
“We found that neighborhood-level deprivation, as measured by the ADI ranking, was not a predictor of OSA severity or residual OSA after surgery,” Dr. Johnson noted. “However, we did find that severe OSA was associated with obesity and that residual OSA was associated with being older, with adolescents being the most commonly affected.”
