Reliability of Friedman Staging System and Modified Mallampati Scoring as clinical assessment methods for Obstructive Sleep Apnea – A cross sectional study

To assess the utility of oropharyngeal crowding indicators as predictors of Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA).STOP-BANG Questionnaire was administered to 145 adults. Of the 95 with high OSA risk, 42 underwent polysomnography. Intraoral space was assessed using modified Mallampati (MMP) and Friedman Scoring (FS) System.Twenty-four were found to have OSA by polysomnography. Most with low risk (86%) had only Class I MMP. Whereas Class III and IV were seen in 37.9% and 17.9% patients with high risk (p < .001) and 50% and 20.8% patients with OSA (p < .831), respectively. All with low risk had Stage 1 FS. Stages 3 and 4 were observed in 27.4% and 1.1% in the high-risk group (p < .001) and in 29.2% and 4.2% with OSA (p < .092), respectively.In limited settings, either MMP or FS scores along with the STOP-BANG questionnaire can be used to diagnose OSA.