Comparison of STOP-Bang and STOP-Bag questionnaires in stratifying risk of obstructive sleep apnea

Abstract RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVE: The snoring, tiredness, observed apnea, high BP, BMI, age, neck circumference, and male gender (STOP-Bang) questionnaire is used widely to screen individuals at high risk of OSA. The objective of the study is to examine the diagnostic performance of the STOP-Bang questionnaire versus the STOP-Bag (without neck circumference) questionnaire. We hypothesized that the diagnostic performance of the STOP-Bang questionnaire would be higher than STOP-Bag questionnaire. METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted that included patients from two preoperative clinics. All participants completed the STOP-Bang questionnaire and underwent polysomnography (PSG). The diagnostic parameters were calculated for the STOP-Bang questionnaire and the STOP-Bag questionnaire versus polysomnography as the reference standard. RESULTS: There were 203 patients with mean age of 57 ± 13 years and 51% were male. The STOP-Bang questionnaire had a significantly higher area under receiver operating curve than the STOP-Bag questionnaire (0.782 vs 0.758, P < 0.05) in detection of mild to severe OSA in surgical patients. Similarly, the STOP-Bang questionnaire had significantly higher sensitivity when compared to the STOP-Bag questionnaire (85.5% vs 81.3%, P < 0.05). The area under the curve for screening moderate-to-severe and severe OSA was not significantly different for STOP-Bang and STOP-Bag questionnaires. CONCLUSION: Compared to the STOP-Bag questionnaire, the STOP-Bang questionnaire has higher diagnostic performance in predicting all OSA, but the 2 questionnaires were similar for moderate-to-severe and severe OSA. The STOP-Bag questionnaire can be used for screening OSA when neck circumference measurement is not feasible.