How does racial and socioeconomic disparities affect when children are diagnosed with Obstructive Sleep apnea?

We are looking at Obstructive sleep apnea sleep studies in children from ages 1 y to 18 y. We have look at this data and encoded information like age, date of referral versus when they got the study done, were they diagnosed with sleep apnea, and what the recommendations the doctors gave to treat it. This information helps us see how many children were referred and how long it took them to get their sleep study and who actually has sleep apnea. All of this information is important for the next task to look at socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and race and why that causes a delay in diagnosis for some children. We will focus on looking at parent’s education and where the family lives to determine socioeconomic status. From a survey that the parents fill out we will be able to look at race and ethnicity. We will be able to draw conclusions from all this data together.

Supervisor: Sarah Honaker
Department: Pediatrics