Adenotonsillectomy Improves Growth in Children With Mild Sleep-Disordered Breathing

TUESDAY, Dec. 30, 2025 (HealthDay News) — For children with mild sleep-disordered breathing (SDB), adenotonsillectomy improves growth and sleep-related outcomes, according to a study published online Dec. 5 in Scientific Reports.

Wendan Gong, from First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University in Nanning, China, and colleagues used data from the Pediatric Adenotonsillectomy Trial for Snoring multicenter, randomized study to examine the impact of adenotonsillectomy on children with mild SDB. A total of 459 children aged 3 to 12 years with mild SDB were enrolled and randomly assigned to adenotonsillectomy or watchful waiting.

The researchers found that compared with the watchful waiting group, the adenotonsillectomy group had a significantly higher increase in height and weight percentiles (mean differences, 2.74 and 2.79, respectively) at 12-month follow-up, after multivariable adjustment. There were also significant differences seen in sleep parameters, including the obstructive apnea-hypopnea index, respiratory disturbance index, and oxygen desaturation index (mean differences, −1.36, −0.47, and −0.99, respectively). Better sleep architecture was demonstrated in the adenotonsillectomy group, including decreased stage 1 sleep and increased stage 2 sleep (mean differences, −1.00 and 2.06, respectively). Children at 3 to 5 years, boys, children with grade III or IV tonsillar hypertrophy, and children without asthma had greater benefit of adenotonsillectomy in a subgroup analysis.

“Adenotonsillectomy improved growth and sleep quality in children with mild SDB, suggesting that surgical intervention may offer additional health benefits beyond symptom relief, particularly in younger children with tonsillar hypertrophy,” the authors write.

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