Chinese guideline for the diagnosis and treatment of childhood obstructive sleep apnea (2020)

Abstract

Childhood obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a disorder of breathing during sleep characterized by prolonged partial upper airway obstruction and/or intermittent complete obstruction (obstructive apnea) that disrupts normal ventilation during sleep and normal sleep patterns in children. OSA is one of the most serious sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) diseases in children. Because of its high prevalence and serious long-term complications, increasing numbers of families are affected by OSA. In 2012, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) clinical practice guidelines reported that the prevalence of pediatric OSA was 1.2%–5.7%; in 2010, the prevalence of pediatric OSA in Hong Kong, China was 4.8%. In contrast to OSA in adults, the main cause of upper airway obstruction in children is adenoid and/or tonsil hypertrophy. Obesity, craniofacial malformation, neuromuscular diseases, and G U I D E L I N E S