Lessons from Healthcare Utilization in Children With Obstructive Sleep Apnoea Syndrome

Abstract Introduction and objectives Paediatric Obstructive Sleep Apnoea-Hypopnoea Syndrome (OSAS) is a multisystemic condition affecting child's health status that may be investigated analyzing demand for healthcare. Objective: to quantify the frequency of medical consultations in children with OSAS over a 5-year period, compared to a healthy population. Methods A longitudinal, case–control, ambispective study was conducted at a hospital pertaining to the national public health system. 69 consecutive children referred for OSAS were recruited with no diseases other than OSAS so that healthcare demand was purely attributed to this condition. Matched healthy control children were selected to compare these data. Data regarding frequency of the medical consultations were obtained over 5 years: the year of the treatment (“Year 0”), 1 and 2 years before (“Year −1” and “Year −2” respectively), and 1 and 2 years after treatment (“Year +1” and “Year +2”). Results Frequentation index (FI), as ratio between the use of health services by OSAS children and healthy controls was 1.89 during Year −2, and 2.15 during Year −1 ( P P Conclusions Children suffering from OSAS demand more healthcare services, at least 2 years before treatment, implying that the disease could be present years before we manage it. Therapeutic actions improve healthcare services utilisation, although remain higher than for controls, which suggests OSAS sequelae or residual disease.