Childhood Adenotonsillectomy Does Not Increase Overweight Risk in Adulthood

TUESDAY, March 26, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Adenotonsillectomy (AT), the primary pediatric obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) treatment, is not associated with an increased risk for being overweight in adulthood, according to a study published online Feb. 28 in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

Aviv D. Goldbart, M.D., from Soroka Medical Center in Beer Sheva, Israel, and colleagues investigated how OSA-indicated AT influences body mass index (BMI) from childhood to adulthood. The analysis included children diagnosed with OSA who underwent either AT (132 individuals) or watchful waiting (WW; 127 individuals) from 1998 to 2000, with follow-up through June 2023.

The researchers found no significant differences in median follow-up BMI between the WW and AT groups (24.7 and 23.6 kg/m², respectively). For females, median follow-up BMI was higher in both groups than for males (females: 26.9 kg/m² for WW and 25.7 kg/m² for AT groups; males: 22.7 and 24.1 kg/m², respectively). Follow-up BMI was not impacted by baseline median z-score classification. Compared with WW, AT was not significantly associated with a change in adulthood BMI when adjusting for sex, z baseline score, apnea-hypopnea index, socioeconomic status, and pregnancy or childbirth by the end of follow-up.

“While not statistically significant, in the multivariable model, there seems to be a decrease in adulthood BMI among patients undergoing AT compared to WW, which might be attributed to the behavior of patients undergoing AT and their better acceptance of medical recommendations,” the authors write.

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