ESPE Abstracts

Background: Adenotonsillectomy is one of the most common surgical procedure performed in children in Romania. Child obesity also, seems to follow the same trend of increasing prevalence as worldwide.

Objective and hypotheses: To determine if there is a relationship between adenotonsillectomy and postoperative weight gain in children.

Method: The retrospective four year study included 235 children. After applying the exclusion criteria, data from 209 children with mean age of 11.5±3.29 years old was analysed. The first evaluation included a complete clinical exam with anthropometric measurements, biochemical tests and a Standard risk factors questionnaire.

Results: Only 13.39% of children had adenotonsillectomy. Three smaller groups were formed: 1^st: children that had excess weight before surgery (n=7), 2^nd: children that gain weight after surgery and parents identified adenotonsillectomy as the cause of obesity (n=13), and the 3rd group: children that gain weight after surgery and parents could not identify adenotonsillectomy as the cause of obesity (n=8). So 10.04% of all children gain weight after the surgical procedure. Children in the second and the third group had no or maximum one or two other known obesity risk factors analysed (parents with obesity, diabetes or cardio-vascular diseases, birth weight, type of milk used in the first year of life, age of introduction of the solid food or the introduction of the cow milk into alimentation).

Conclusion: Educating the parents and general practitioners about the possibility of weight gain after adenotonsillectomy could be useful in fighting obesity epidemic. For children undergoing surgery, adding simple dietetic habits and exercise guidelines for to the existing Post-operative recovery recommendation would be beneficial. The postoperative follow up, including anthropometric measurements, should be done for at least 2 years period.