Two-dimensional upper airway normative values in children aged 7 to 17 years

ABSTRACT

Objective

To develop two-dimensional (2D) upper airway normative values in pediatric patients and correlate upper airway measurements with age.

Methods

Cone beam computed tomography scans of 3738 patients were examined, and a sample of 61 patients, divided into two age groups (7–11 and 12–17 years), was used to reconstruct lateral cephalograms.

Results

The mean adenoid–nasopharynx (A/N) ratio was 0.45 and 0.44 for age groups 1 and 2, respectively. The mean PNS-ad1 and PNS-ad2 were 24 and 18.7 mm, respectively, for age group 1, and 26.7 and 21.2 mm, respectively, for age group 2. Additional normative values for the hyoid bone, airway space, uvula, and tongue are presented. The highest correlation with age was the upper airway length (r = 0.557, p < 0.001).

Conclusion

Although cephalometric radiographs remain 2D reconstructions of three-dimensional structures, they have significant value and can aid clinicians in the screening process for pediatric sleep apnea.

KEYWORDS:

• Adenoids
• airway
• cephalometric
• OSA
• sleep apnea
• snoring

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the Deanship of Scientific Reasearch (DSR), King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for their technical and financial support.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Author contribution

A.M. designed the study; A.M. and F.A. collected the sample; F.A. performed all measurements; A.M. analyzed the data; A.M. wrote the manuscript. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Ethical statement

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1964 and later versions.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This project was funded by the Deanship of Scientific Research (DSR), King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, under grant No. D-291-165-1441.