Journal of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery (Dec 2019)

Overnight oximetry in children undergoing adenotonsillectomy: a single center experience

  • C. Carrie Liu,
  • Kathleen H. Chaput,
  • Valerie Kirk,
  • Warren Yunker

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40463-019-0391-2
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 48, no. 1
pp. 1 – 5

Abstract

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Abstract Background Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is the most common indication for adenotonsillectomy in children. Home-based sleep oximetry continues to be used in the diagnosis of pediatric OSA despite a lack of correlation with lab-based polysomnography. This study investigates whether factors influence surgeons in selecting patients for home-based sleep oximetry, how the study findings are used in patient management, and whether abnormal oximetry findings are associated with post-operative complications. Methods A retrospective review was performed on children with suspected OSA who had undergone a tonsillectomy and/or an adenoidectomy over a three-year period. Demographic features, comorbidities, pre-operative oximetry results, and post-operative complications were recorded. Data analysis consisting primarily of logistic regression was performed using Stata 12.0 (College Station, Texas). Results Data was collected from 389 children. Two hundred and seventy-one children underwent pre-operative oximetry (69.7%). There was no significant association between age or the presence of comorbidities and the likelihood of undergoing pre-operative sleep oximetry. The post-operative complication rate was 0.8%. There was no significant association between abnormal sleep oximetry parameters and post-operative complications. Children with one or more abnormal sleep oximetry parameters were more likely to be observed in hospital for at least one night (OR 2.4, p < 0.0001). Conclusions Our study suggests that surgeons are using home-based sleep oximetry findings to inform the post-operative care of children with suspected OSA, as those with abnormal home-based sleep oximetry findings were more likely to be observed in hospital. These hospital admissions may be unnecessary given the poor correlation of home-based oximetry and PSG as well as the low rate of serious post-operative complications.

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