Treatment outcomes of obstructive sleep apnoea in obese community-dwelling children: the NANOS study

The first line of treatment of obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS) in children consists of adenotonsillectomy (TA group 2: dietary treatment; group 3: surgical treatment; and group 4: continuous positive airway pressure treatment. 117 obese children (60 boys, 57 girls) with a mean age of 11.3±2.9 years completed the initial (T 0 ) and follow-up (T 1) assessments. Their mean body mass index (BMI) at T 1 was 27.6±4.7 kg·m −2 , corresponding to a BMI Z-score of 1.34±0.59. Mean respiratory disturbance index (RDI) at follow-up was 3.3±3.9 events·h −1 . Among group 1 children, 21.2% had an RDI ≥3 events·h −1 at T 1 , the latter being present in 50% of group 2, and 43.5% in group 3. In the binary logistic regression model, age emerged as a significant risk factor for residual OSAS (odds ratio 1.49, 95% confidence interval 1.01–2.23; p 0 as well as an increase in BMI emerged as significant risk factors for persistent OSAS in obese children with dietary treatment (OR 1.82, 95% CI 1.09–3.02 (p Age, RDI at diagnosis and obesity are risk factors for relatively unfavourable OSAS treatment outcomes at follow-up.