Figure. Association Between the Natural Course of Childhood Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) and Adolescent Elevated Blood Pressure (eBP).

Data are odds ratios adjusted for race/ethnicity, sex, adenotonsillectomy, and antihypertensive and cardiac medication use, as well as childhood (baseline) age, body mass index percentile, systolic blood pressure percentile, and tonsillar hypertrophy. The 4 natural course groups were defined as none (reference), remitted, incident, and persistent OSA using an apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) of 2 or more as the pediatric threshold at baseline (childhood) and at follow-up (adolescence). When an AHI of 5 or more was used as the threshold at follow-up to define incident OSA (n = 38), the odds of eBP were 2.3-fold and significant for this more severe incident group.