Relationship between growth of facial morphology and chronologic age in preschool children with obstructive sleep apnea

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between facial morphology using cephalometry and chronologic age in preschool children with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Materials and Methods: From a group of lateral cephalometric radiographs taken of 35 children with OSA for diagnostic purposes, 15 were selected for the present investigation based on head position. The subjects consisted of preschool children with both OSA and primary dentition, all of them with a lowest documented SpO² <90% and a lowest 0 <AI. The control group included 15 preschool children with primary dentition and without enlarged tonsils or adenoids. Results: The present findings reveal that, compared to the controls, OSA children had a narrower pharyngeal airway space related to OSA. In addition, we found that, although there were direct correlations between heights, nasal floor and corpus length, with chronologic age in the controls, there was no significant correlation between height, nasal floor length or corpus length with age in the OSA children. Conclusion: Obstructive sleep apnea in children may be associated with growth disturbances of the nasal floor and corpus length.