Assessing the Impact of Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) Management on Quality of Life (QoL) in Pediatric Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Objective: The study aims to assess the impact of obstructive sleep apnea on quality of life in pediatric patients along with their management approaches.
Methodology: The study has applied a cross-sectional design to recruit children, visiting ENT clinics with the suggestion of obstructive sleep apnea. History and OSA assessment were collected for these children from the hospital. Besides this, OSA-18 questionnaire was used to collect the data, translated into the Arabic language for respondents’ feasibility.
Results: A total of 24 patients (40%) were able to cure with medical treatment, whereas 36 patients (60%) were provided with surgical treatment. There were significant association between medical management and parental smoking (p-value=0.011), OSA score (p-value-0.003) and the size of adenoid (p-value=0.008). A significant association was also shown between size of adenoid and severity of OSA-18 (p-value=0.031). No significant difference was shown between parental smoking, allergic rhinitis and severity of OSA.
Conclusion: Although the surgical management is still the main modality in treating OSA, medical treatment plays an important role especially in cases with mild OSA, small adenoids and indoor smoking.