STOP-BANG questionnaire identifies patients with OSA at hight risk for surgical complications

What is preoperative STOP-BANG?

This is a questionnaire that evaluates the following patient characteristics:

Snoring, Tiredness during daytime, Observed apnea, high blood Pressure, Body mass index, Age, Neck circumference, Gender

Patient population

135 adult patients undergoing elective surgery at a tertiary care center were administered the STOP-BANG questionnaire.

41.5% of patients had high risk scores for OSAS.

Patients at high risk of OSAS had a much higher rate of postoperative complications compared with patients at low risk (19.6% vs 1.3%).

STOP-BANG questionnaire predicts high risk

The STOP-BANG questionnaire is useful for preoperative identification of patients at higher than normal risk for surgical complications, probably because it identifies patients with occult OSAS.

References

Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome and Postoperative Complications. Clinical Use of the STOP-BANG Questionnaire. Tajender S. Vasu, MD; Karl Doghramji, MD; Rodrigo Cavallazzi, MD; Ritu Grewal, MD; Amyn Hirani, MD; Benjamin Leiby, PhD; Dimitri Markov, MD; David Reiter, MD; Walter K. Kraft, MD; Thomas Witkowski, MD. Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2010;136(10):1020-1024. doi:10.1001/archoto.2010.1020

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