Elevated Morbidity and Health Care Use in Children with Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome

Rationale: Health care use, a reliable measure of morbidity, is noticeably higher 1 yr before obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) diagnosis in preschool children. It is not clear at what age OSAS-related morbidity becomes expressed.Objective: To explore morbidity and health care use among children with OSAS starting from first year of life.Methods: Case-control study, starting from the first year of life to date of OSAS diagnosis, among 156 patients (age range, 3–5 yr) and their pair-matched healthy control subjects, by age, sex, primary care physician, and geographic location.Measurements: Patients with OSAS underwent nocturnal polysomnography studies. Medical records during hospital visits were reviewed for diagnosis. Variables of health care use were obtained from computerized databases of Clalit Health Care Services, the largest health maintenance organization in Israel.Main Results: From the first year of life to date of OSAS diagnosis, children with OSAS had 40% more (p = 0.048) hospital visits,...