A validation study on three screening questionnaires for obstructive sleep apnea in a Korean community sample.

Purpose: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is highly prevalent and causes serious cardiovascular complications. Several screening questionnaires for OSA have been introduced, but only few validation studies have been conducted in general population. The aim of the present study was to assess the diagnostic value of three OSA screening questionnaires (Berlin Questionnaire, BQ; STOP-Bang Questionnaire, STOP-B; Four-Variable Screening Tool, Four-V) in a Korean community sample.

Methods: A total of 1148 community-dwelling participants completed the BQ, STOP-B, and Four-V. An overnight in-laboratory polysomnography (PSG) was conducted in randomly selected 116 participants. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, positive likelihood ratio, negative likelihood ratio, and area under the curve (AUC) were calculated.

Results: The Four-V with cutoff ≥ 8 showed high sensitivity for overall OSA (69.4%), and the Four-V with cutoff ≥ 9 showed high specificity for both overall OSA (81.5%) and moderate to severe OSA (69.0%). On the other hand, the STOP-B showed acceptable sensitivity and specificity for both overall OSA (61.3 and 79.6%, respectively) and moderate to severe OSA (72.4 and 67.8%, respectively). The STOP-Bang also showed the largest area under the receiver-operator characteristic curve for both overall OSA (0.752) and moderate to severe OSA (0.750). The BQ showed the lowest performance in predicting OSA.

Conclusions: Among the three questionnaires, the STOP-B was revealed as the most useful screening tool for OSA in terms of sensitivity, specificity, and area under the receiver-operator characteristic curve in the population of South Korea.