Central sleep apnea in children with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome and improvement following adenotonsillectomy.

Background: Although the pathogenesis of central and obstructive events seems to be different, these two entities may somehow be related. We aimed to determine whether, as reported in previous research, the number of central sleep apnea (CSA) cases in a population of children with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) was greater than in patients without obstructive events, and if CSA worsens with increasing OSAS severity. As a second objective, we analyzed changes in central apnea index (CAI) after adenotonsillar surgery compared to changes when no surgery has been performed.