EEG spectral analysis of apnoeic events confirms visual scoring in childhood sleep disordered breathing

Abstract

Purpose: This study compared electroencephalogram (EEG) spectral analysis with standard visual scoring to assess the validity of clinical classification of arousals at respiratory event termination in children with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). Methods: Twenty children (six M/14 F) aged 7-12 years, diagnosed with moderate to severe OSA participated in this study. Overnight polysomnography was performed, and sleep stages and arousals visually scored using clinical paediatric measures. The EEG was spectrally analysed in six 5-s epochs across respiratory events, namely two consecutive 5-s epochs pre-event onset and a 5s epoch post-event onset, 5-s before event termination, and two contiguous ..