Objective: To determine whether postoperative hypoxemia could be predicted using information readily available to the clinician by STOP-BANG questionnaire, statistical significance of each of the STOP-BANG criterion for predicting post-operative hypoxemia. Methodology: The study included 300 patients undergoing general anaesthesia for elective surgeries. All 8 components of STOP-BANG were recorded pre operatively. Post-operatively Spo2, PR, BP, RR, Temperature monitored post-operatively for upto 48 hours. Hypoxia was considered as a drop in spo2 4% below the baseline value. P-value <0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: Of the 300 patients, 99 patients had at least one recording of spo2 below 4% of their baseline value. Whereas, 201 patients have maintained their spo2 values above baseline. In this study each of the STOP-BANG criteria were analyzed separately of which Snoring (P=0.004), Blood pressure (P<0.001), BMI (P=0.004), Age (P<0.001), and Neck circumference (P<0.001) were statistically significant in predicting postoperative hypoxemia.

STOP-BANG, Hypoxemia, OSA