Craniofacial Phenotyping By Photogrammetry In Chinese Prepubertal Children With Obstructive Sleep Apnea.

STUDY OBJECTIVES
This study aimed to examine the craniofacial phenotype of Chinese prepubertal children with and without OSA using a quantitative photographic analysis technique and to develop a prediction model for OSA diagnosis based on the photogrammetric data. Potential ethnic differences in the association between OSA and photogrammetric data between Chinese and Caucasian children were also examined.


METHODS
This was a cross-sectional study. Chinese children aged 5-12 years old, suspected to have OSA were recruited from our sleep clinic. Frontal and side photos were taken for craniofacial phenotyping by photogrammetry. Polysomnography was performed and subjects were divided into three groups: non-OSA (obstructive apnea hypopnea index (OAHI) <1/h), mild OSA (OAHI between 1/h and 5/h), and moderate-to-severe (MS) OSA (OAHI ≥5/h). Prediction models were built from 70% of training data using logistic regression and evaluated on the remaining 30% of test data for ROC curve construction.


RESULTS
This study included 90 subjects (mean age: 8.2 ± 1.6 years, 67 males). Non-OSA, mild OSA, and MS OSA groups included 32, 31, and 27 subjects, respectively. There were significant trends for an increasing maxillary-mandibular relationship angle (p=0.002) and a decreasing anterior mandibular height to whole face length ratio (p<0.001) with increasing OSA severity. A prediction model built with clinical measurements and the two photogrammetric features yielded an AUC of 0.81 (95% C.I.: 0.64-0.96).


CONCLUSION
Craniofacial features obtained by photogrammetry are significantly different between OSA groups in prepubertal children. Increased maxillary-mandibular relationship angle is an OSA feature found in both Asian and Caucasian children.