The Use of STOP-BANG Questionnaire and Other Difficult Airway Determinants in Difficult Airway Prediction and Correlation

Background: The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the use of STOP-BANG questionnaire in prediction of difficult airway. The secondary aim of this study is to evaluate the correlation of the questionnaire and other difficult airway determinant tests in predicting difficult airway.

Methods: Two hundred American Society of Anesthesiologists' Status I, II, and III patients under general anesthesia were enrolled in this prospective randomized study. Patients' age, height, body weight, body mass index, neck circumference, inter-incisor distance when the mouth is fully open, sternomental and thyromental distance, mandibular length, neck length, biting the upper lip, STOP-BANG score, and Mallampati and Cormack-Lehane (C-L) grades were recorded. The first thing we want to find is to determine the usability of the STOP-BANG questionnaire as an indicator of the difficult airway. Comparing difficult airway with the other parameters was secondary objectives. The patients were divided into two groups as difficult and easy intubation with difficult and easy facial mask ventilation. The data were analyzed using an SPSS statistics 16.0 program. Statistical analysis was performed using, Chi-square and Spearman correlation analysis test.

Results: Forty-five out of 200 patients had difficulty in intubation and 73 out of them had difficulty in mask ventilation. Between difficult airway and high STOP-BANG score was a moderate positive correlation (p<0.05). Furthermore, unnatural dental status, greater head circumference, greater neck circumference, Mallampati, and C-L classification were significantly positive correlated with a difficult airway (p<0.05).

Conclusion: In our study, the STOP-BANG questionnaire was found to be important in predicting the difficult airway and this test was found to be usable like other difficult airway parameters.