Journal of Pediatric Psychology Advance Access originally published online on December 11, 2007
Journal of Pediatric Psychology 2008 33(3):269-278; doi:10.1093/jpepsy/jsm127
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Symptoms of Sleep Apnea and Polysomnography as Predictors of Poor Quality of Life in Overweight Children and Adolescents
1School of Nursing, University of Rochester, 2Department of Pediatrics, University of Rochester, 3Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, 4Pediatric Sleep Medicine Services, University of Rochester Medical Center, and 5School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Rochester
All correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Margaret-Ann Carno, University of Rochester, School of Nursing, 601 Elmwood Ave Box SON, Rochester, NY 14642, USA. E-mail: margaret_carno{at}urmc.rochester.edu
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Objective The goal of this study was to examine the relationship between quality of life (QOL) and symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) as well as objectively measured severity of OSA using polysomnography (PSG) in a cohort of overweight and at risk for overweight children and adolescents. Methods One hundred and fifty-one overweight subjects [90 males, average ages of 12.52, mean body mass index (BMI) Z-score of 2.27) and their parent/guardian completed surveys assessing QOL and symptoms of OSA syndrome. The subjects also underwent overnight PSG. Results Overweight patients reported poor QOL. Polysomnographic variables did not correlate with QOL. However, symptoms of OSA as reported on the Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire significantly correlated with QOL from both the parent and the subject. Conclusions Overweight youth with symptoms of OSA have a lower QOL both by their report and parental report. Interestingly, objective measures of OSA did not correlate with QOL.
Key words: OSA; overweight; quality of life; youth.
Received April 30, 2007; revision received November 16, 2007; accepted November 16, 2007