OBJECTIVE: One of the objective of the study was to evaluate the reliability and validity of 18 items survey (OSA-18) which was made for disease specific quality of life in children with obstructive sleep apnea. The other was to explore whether OSA-18 could be used as a well appreciation method on OSAHS in children's quality of life before and after surgery. METHOD: First, one hundred and twenty-two children's parents were interviewed with this survey scales and the survey scales was assessed by split-half reliability, retest reliability, internal consistency, construct validity and content validity. Second,OSA-18 was used to evaluate the QOL of 122 children within 4 weeks before PSG and in 6 to 12 months after operation. RESULT: OSA-18 has a satisfactory internal consistency. Global Cronbach's alpha coefficient were 0.939. All domains and items Cronbach's alpha coefficients > 0.6; also has a well retest reliability, coefficient correlation of pearson equal 0. 619. Construct validity and content validity were satisfactory. The impact of pediatric OSAHS on QOL was moderate and severe in 77.05% patients pre-operation. However, it was only 28.69% after surgery. OSA-18 total scores, every domain and item score were significant decrease. CONCLUSION OSA-18 QOL survey had better reliability and validity, and was applicable for life quality assessment in OSAHS children. OSA-18 QOL survey could help clinical diagnosis of OSAHS in children and give quantitative evaluation for therapeutic measure.
Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Parents ; Quality of Life ; Reproducibility of Results ; Sleep Apnea, Obstructive ; Surveys and Questionnaires