Annals of Thoracic Medicine (Oct 2024)

Validation of the Arabic version of the Obstructive Sleep Apnea-18 quality of life questionnaire for evaluating children with sleep apnea–hypopnea syndrome

  • Montaha Al-Iede,
  • Mohammad Ali Alshrouf,
  • Abdallah Al-Ani,
  • Alaa Alkurdi,
  • Areej H. Jaber,
  • Omar Husain,
  • Batool Abusabra,
  • Nihad A. Almasri

DOI
https://doi.org/10.4103/atm.atm_94_24
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 19, no. 4
pp. 266 – 274

Abstract

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BACKGROUND Pediatric obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) poses a significant health concern, affecting the well-being and quality of life of affected children. This study focuses on the translation, adaptation, and validation of the OSA-18 questionnaire for Arabic-speaking pediatric patients, aiming to contribute to the understanding of OSA and its implications on the quality of life in this population. METHODS A study was conducted at Jordan University Hospital, involving 186 Arabic-speaking pediatric patients with suspected OSA. The OSA-18 questionnaire was translated and culturally adapted following the World Health Organization guidelines. Overnight polysomnography was conducted to assess OSA severity. Internal consistency, construct validity, convergent validity, and predictive/discriminant validity were analyzed. RESULTS The study sample (68.8% of males, median age: 10.87) showed a median Apnea–Hypopnea Index (AHI) of 7.0, OSA-18 score of 46.5, and Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire (PSQ) score of 7.0. Internal consistency of OSA-18 was acceptable, except for the “physical symptoms” domain. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed five factors corresponding to different OSA-18 domains. Convergent validity was supported by significant correlations between OSA-18 and PSQ scores. However, no correlation was found between OSA-18 scores and AHI. OSA severity was associated with higher PSQ scores but not with AHI. CONCLUSION This study provides valuable insights into pediatric OSA in Arabic-speaking children. While the translation and validation of the OSA-18 questionnaire demonstrated acceptable reliability and convergent validity, the lack of correlation between OSA-18 scores and AHI raises questions about the survey’s ability to capture the full impact of OSA objectively. Future research should focus on developing more reliable diagnostic tools, especially in resource-limited settings.

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