Adenotonsillectomy revisited: Outcomes and differences in 100 children with adenotonsillectomy

Background: Adenotonsillectomy (AT) is one of the most common operations in children. Main indications are recurrent infections (RI) and sleep disordered breathing (SDB). Preselected outcome data like the CHAT study (1) is available but does not reflect clinical practice. Nevertheless CHAT emphasised the pivotal role of a follow up due to a persistence rate of SDB of up to 35%. We present the study design and patient characteristics at study entry of our longitudinal single-center study investigating the 6-month outcome of children with AT without preselection. Method: 100 children with AT were recruited. The cohort was divided on clinical bases into those children in which surgery was indicated for RI or SDB, respectively. The Pediatric Sleep Questionaire (PSQ) was employed to assess for SDB in both groups. At follow-up at 6 months the PSQ score was reassessed and children in the SDB group underwent a sleep study. The Primary endpoint of the study was tracking of PSQ scores. So far, all children have been included, 52 of them have completed the follow up. Results: 46 of the 100 participants were classified in the RI group, 54 of the participants accounted for the SDB group. PSQ scores at study entry were significantly higher in the SDB group than those in the RI group (10,2±3,4 vs. 4,8±3,2; p Conclusions: PSQ Score differentiates children for AT with SDB. The study reflects clinical practice and seems suitable to see outcomes and reveal success or failure of AT at follow up 1. Marcus et al., N Engl J Med 2013;368:2366-76.