Other
Gabriella K. Quevedo, DMD (she/her/hers)
Pediatric Dentistry Resident, PGY-2
University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Dentistry
University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Dentistry
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Jaye Schreier, MD
UI Health
Scott Tomar, DMD, DrPH
University of Illinois Chicago
Polina Voronov, MD
UI Health
Brittaney J. Hill, DDS, MS, MPH
Program Director
University of Illinois Chicago College of Dentistry
University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Leda Mugayar, DDS, MS
Associate Professor
University of Illinois Chicago
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Purpose: Obstructive Sleep Apnea is the most common childhood sleep-related breathing disorder. It may impact oral, systemic, cognitive, and behavioral health and increases risk of complications from general anesthesia. The AAP recommends screening of all pediatric patients. Developed questionnaires have varied reports of validity, sensitivity, and specificity. Our objective is to determine the predictive utility of a proposed 5-item POSA screening questionnaire in establishing appropriate referrals and OSA diagnosis.
Methods: This retrospective cohort study abstracted data from the electronic records for children ages 0 months – 12 years who were seen at UIC Pediatric Dentistry Clinic during 09/02/2020 – 05/20/2022. Data analysis included bivariate analysis and Mantel-Haenszel chi-squared test. We created an OSA Index and measured its sensitivity and specificity for predicting OSA diagnosis, using weighted based on bivariate strength of association.
Results: A positive answer to any item was significantly associated with referrals for evaluation. Individuals who answered positively on snoring ≥2 times/ week, trouble breathing, stop breathing, or mouth breathing during sleep were significantly more likely to be diagnosed with OSA. Sleepiness during the day was not significantly associated with OSA diagnosis. An overall score of ≥3 had sensitivity of 68% and specificity of 94%.
Conclusions: Our screening questionnaire is effective in identifying youth at high risk for OSA. When used with our proposed weighting scale, this questionnaire shows moderate-to-high sensitivity and specificity, as well as was validated in a large sample population. Implementation of this questionnaire would encourage large scale screening and pertinent referrals in a busy clinical setting.