Snoring resurfaces in obese children despite surgery

Children who gain weight rapidly after having adenotonsillectomy, or surgical removal of tonsils and adenoids to treat snoring, may see a relapse or their condition could even worsen.

Adenotonsillectomy is the most commonly performed surgery in children in developed nations and is the first line of treatment for snoring in children. For many kids, undergoing this surgery provides only temporary relief.

"The high rate of recurrence we observed in both obese and non-obese children indicates that (snoring) is a chronic condition," said Raouf Amin, of Cincinnati Children's Hospital.

The results have been published in the latest issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

The researchers studied 40 healthy children aged between seven and 13 whose parents and otolaryngologists had jointly agreed upon adenotonsillectomy surgery to treat night snoring.

The investigators also recruited 30 sex- and age-matched children who were not undergoing adenotonsillectomy as a control group.

They performed sleep monitoring on each child at time of recruitment, and again at six weeks, six months, and a year following surgery.

Children in the control group had sleep monitoring at the same intervals. Those who relapsed were more likely to be more obese, have worse sleep disordered breathing (SDB) at baseline, have an accelerated body mass index (BMI) gain, and to be African-American. (IANS)

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