Obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome in children is not associated with obesity

The prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) in the general pediatric population ranges from 1% to 3%. However, its prevalence in an unselected population of obese children is unknown. We studied the association between obesity and OSAHS in children diagnosed with the syndrome in a cohort of boys and girls (age range, 2-14 years) referred to the pediatric respiratory medicine outpatient clinic at our hospital for suspected apnea, snoring, or both over the past 5 years. The medical history of each patient was recorded and all patients underwent a physical examination, chest and nasal cavities radiography, and 8-channel respiratory polygraphy during sleep. The following variables were evaluated: sex, reason for consultation, source of referral, findings during upper airway examination, age, weight z-score (reflecting how much a finding differs from the mean and in what direction in a normally distributed sample), height z-score, body mass index (BMI) z-score, number of apneas, number of hypopneas, apnea index, hypopnea index, apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), oxygen saturation (mean and minimum) measured by pulse oximetry, number of snores, and snore index. Of the 400 patients studied, 242 (60.5%) were male and 158 (39.5%) female. The mean age was 4.95 years. OSAHS (AHI> or =3) was diagnosed in 298 cases (74.5%) and these patients were then studied to determine the relation between OSAHS and obesity. The anthropometric distribution (expressed as mean [SD]) was as follows: weight z-score, 0.37 (1.31); height z-score, 0.23 (1.19); BMI, 17.063 kg/m(2) (2.51); and BMI z-score, 0.39 (1.36). The respiratory polygraph during sleep recorded an AHI of 6.56 (7.56). No differences were observed between the height z-score, weight z-score, BMI z-score, age, and AHI. No association between obesity and OSAHS was found in this series. However, studies of larger, unselected populations are needed to determine if obesity is a risk factor for OSAHS in children.