Objectives: Because access to sleep recordings is limited,
there is a need for new reliable diagnostic tools for pediatric
obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) diagnosis. A score
calculated from a 30 minutes-home sleep videotape recording has already
been proposed in 1996 with interesting results. The main objective of
this pilot study was to assess the reliability of a similar score
applied to reference PSG video recordings and calculated on two
different time windows (30 and 10 minutes). Methods: Sixteen
children suspected of OSAHS, aged between two and ten years, underwent
video recording during overnight PSG. Video analysis was made during the
second complete sleep cycle. A 30-minute risk score (RS30) and a
10-minute risk score (RS10) were established by analyzing seven
parameters. The RS30 and RS10 were correlated with clinical examination
data, a sleep questionnaire, the obstructive-apnea-hypopnea index (OAHI)
and the oxygen desaturation index (ODI) from synchronized PSG results.
Results: There was a significant correlation between both the
RS30 and RS10, the OAHI and ODI. A RS30 ≥ 6.09 was predictive of an OAHI
≥ 5 per hour with a sensitivity of 83% and a specificity of 90%. A
RS10 ≥ 6.50 was predictive of an OAHI ≥ 5 per hour with a sensitivity of
67% and a specificity of 100%. Conclusion: A risk score based
on PSG video recordings shows a good correlation with PSG results,
confirming previous reports. Further work should focus on applying this
risk score to home sleep video recordings for the diagnosis of pediatric
OSAHS.