Screening obstructive sleep apnea–hypopnea syndrome from snorers in children by heart rate variability analysis

This study aimed to evaluate the application of time- and frequency-domain analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) to screen obstructive sleep apnea–hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) from snorers in children. Snoring children who were more than 3 years old were recruited and simultaneously underwent standard polysomnography (PSG) and 24 h ambulatory electrocardiography. The HRV variables of the two groups were compared, and a threshold value of the most significant variables was determined to obtain better separation power between OSAHS and non-OSAHS conditions. PSG was made as a gold standard to evaluate the capacity of HRV analysis to screen OSAHS from snorers in children. PSG results showed that 58 children manifested OSAHS and 37 were non-OSAHS snorers. LF/HFn ≥ 0.845 has the highest sensitivity of screening OSAHS from snorers with limited specificity, so the use of this ratio should not be overestimated.