Background: Approximately 2% of ambulatory pediatric surgeries require unanticipated postoperative admission, causing parental dissatisfaction and suboptimal use of hospital resources. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) occurs in nearly 8% of children and is known to increase the risk of perioperative adverse events in children undergoing otolaryngologic procedures (eg, tonsillectomy). However, whether OSA is also a risk for unanticipated admission after nonotolaryngologic surgery is unknown. The objectives of this study were to determine the association of OSA with unanticipated admission after pediatric nonotolaryngologic ambulatory surgery and to explore trends in the prevalence of OSA in children undergoing nonotolaryngologic ambulatory surgery.
Methods: We used the Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS) Database to evaluate a retrospective cohort of children (<18 years) undergoing nonotolaryngologic surgery scheduled as ambulatory or observation status from January 1, 2010, to August 31, 2022. We used International Classification of Diseases codes to identify patients with OSA. The primary outcome was unanticipated postoperative admission lasting ≥1 day. Using logistic regression models, we estimated the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for unanticipated admission comparing patients with and without OSA. We then estimated trends in the prevalence of OSA during the study period using the Cochran-Armitage test.
Results: A total of 855,832 children <18 years underwent nonotolaryngologic surgery as ambulatory or observation status during the study period. Of these, 39,427 (4.6%) required unanticipated admission for ≥1 day, and OSA was present in 6359 (0.7%) of these patients. Among children with OSA, 9.4% required unanticipated admission, compared to 5.0% among those without. The odds of children with OSA requiring unanticipated admission were more than twice that in children without OSA (adjusted OR, 2.27; 95% CI, 1.89-2.71; P < .001). The prevalence of OSA among children undergoing nonotolaryngologic surgery as ambulatory or observation status increased from 0.4% to 1.7% between 2010 and 2022 (P trends < .001).
Conclusions: Children with OSA were significantly more likely to require unanticipated admission after a nonotolaryngologic surgery scheduled as ambulatory or observation status than those without OSA. These findings can inform patient selection for ambulatory surgery with the goal of decreasing unanticipated admissions, increasing patient safety and satisfaction, and optimizing health care resources related to unanticipated admission.
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