Tonsillectomy implicated in pediatric obesity

**Jeyakumar A. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2011;144:154-158.**

Tonsillectomy and excessive weight gain in children may be linked, researchers found.

Using a systematic analysis of nine studies that were conducted between 1970 and 2009, researchers included 795 children aged 0 to 18 years who underwent tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy. Preoperative and postoperative weights ranged from normal to morbid obesity. Nearly half of the patients (47.7%) presented with sleep-disordered breathing.

In the first group (three studies, n=127), the postoperative BMI increased by 5.5% to 8.2%. The standardized weight scores increased 46% to 100% in patients in group two (three studies, n=419). Group three (three studies, n=249) had corrected post-adenoidectomy weight increases in 50% to 75% of patients. Morbidly obese patients (weight 130%-260% vs. peers) did not experience postoperative weight change.

Limitations to the study included the difficulty in defining a causal relationship between pediatric obesity, and tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy, according to the researchers. “Part of the reason is the lack of standardization in otolaryngology in tracking weight in children,” they wrote.

“A large population of normal and overweight children undergoing [tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy] gained a greater than expected amount of weight postoperatively, which suggests an association between [tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy] and weight gain,” they concluded.

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