Ineffectiveness of watchful waiting on mouth breathing in children with obstructive sleep apnea

Zhihuai Dong; Jing Ye; Mang Xiao; Huihua You

doi:10.1080/08869634.2023.2180984

Ineffectiveness of watchful waiting on mouth breathing in children with obstructive sleep apnea

Cranio. 2023 Mar 22:1-8. doi: 10.1080/08869634.2023.2180984. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Zhihuai Dong¹, Jing Ye¹, Mang Xiao¹, Huihua You²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Medical College of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
² Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Affiliated Jinhua Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medcine, Jinhua, China.

PMID: 36949724
DOI: 10.1080/08869634.2023.2180984

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the effectiveness of watchful waiting on mouth breathing in children with OSA.

Methods: Children in the Childhood Adenotonsillectomy Trial (CHAT) dataset were divided into two groups according to the treatment they received. One question in the OSA-18 Quality-of-Life Survey was chosen to evaluate the severity of mouth breathing.

Results: In total, 392 children (adenotonsillectomy group, n = 197 and watchful waiting group, n = 195) were enrolled in the study. There was no significant correlation between the Apnea-Hypopnea Index (AHI) and the severity of mouth breathing, $r = .09, p = .073$ . In watchful waiting group, there is no statistically significant difference of mouth breathing score (p = .555) between baseline and followup.

Conclusions: The watchful waiting of mouth breathing in children with less severe OSA is ineffective. More caution should be taken to choose watchful waiting for children with mild OSA but severe mouth breathing.

Keywords: Mouth breathing; children wordcount: 2240; obstructive sleep apnea; watchful waiting.