兒童也會患有阻塞型睡眠呼吸中止症，一般認為與呼吸道狹窄有關，小孩最常見的病因是腺樣體與扁桃腺肥大、鼻阻塞、舌頭塌陷、顎裂、顱顏的病症。臨床症狀白天口呼吸、行為改變、成長遲緩、夜間打鼾，而嚴重的睡眠障礙長期持續影響，會影響生長發育及心血管疾病（如高血壓）。在診斷上面醫師最主要瞭解患者的嚴重度及阻塞位置，目前依多項睡眠生理監測儀為診斷睡眠障礙的黃金標準，它能準確的評估是否患有睡眠障礙及嚴重程度。而嗜睡問卷表也能幫助醫師瞭解睡眠呼吸中止的嚴重度，但準確性不高。頭顱側位x 光片、電腦斷層掃描（CT）、核磁共振（MRI）的影像都能幫助醫師瞭解上呼吸道軟硬組織的相關位置。因為電腦斷層掃描、核磁共振
成本較高，所以瞭解患者上呼吸道的解剖位置，一般常用頭顱側位x 光片。

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is a frequent sleep disorder in children and is highly related to the anatomy of upper airway. The most common causes of OSAS in children are adenotonsillar hypertrophy, nasal obstruction, tongue collapse, cleft palatale and craniofacial disorders.
Clinical symptoms include daytime oral breathing, behavior change, growth delay, nocturnal snoring and arterial and/or pulmonary hypertension. Polysomnography(PSG) is the gold standard of diagnosis for sleep disorder breathing. Epworth sleepy scale can help doctor evaluation obstructive sleep apnea syndrome severity level, but accuracy low. Cephalomatry, computer tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can evaluate upper respiratory tract. However, cephalometry would be a more cost-effective measurement.