Factors Correlated With Obstructive Sleep Apnea in Children and Adolescents

Polysomnography, referred to as type I, allows assessing several sleep physiologic parameters (eg, EEG, electrooculogram, electromyogram, electrocardiogram, airflow, respiratory effort, oxygen saturation), whereas audio-video recording enables to document tooth-grinding sounds and distinguishing between rhythmic masticatory muscle activity (RMMA) and orofacial and other muscular activity during sleep. The apnea and hypopnea index (AHI) is defined as the number of obstructive apneas and hypopneas per hour of sleep. Obstructive Sleep Apnea is defined in PSG when AHI≥1 and is divided into the following categories, according to severity: mild OSA (AHI 1-4.9), moderate OSA (AHI 5-9.9) and severe OSA (IAH≥10). Based on the RMMA index (number of episodes per hour of sleep), sleep bruxism is diagnosed when episodes are greater than or equal to 2 (low-frequency SB, mild bruxism) or episodes are greater than or equal to 4 (high frequency SB, severe bruxism).