Tonsillectomy Increases Obesity Risk in Sleep Apnea Patients

It's often recommended that children with sleep apnea have their tonsils removed. When airways are constricted by the disorder, tonsils and adenoids can swell up and cause problems in the throat and nasal cavity. 

However, a new study published in the journal Pediatrics found that this surgical operation could increase the likelihood of obesity when compared to children with sleep apnea who did not have the surgery.

"You can't just treat the sleep apnea. You have to have nutrition and lifestyle counseling, too," said lead study author Dr. Eliot Katz, a respiratory disease specialist at Boston Children's Hospital, via WebMD. 

Following this surgery to alleviate the symptoms of sleep apnea, researchers said that parents and children should become even more aware of the necessary steps for a healthy lifestyle, including diet and exercise. 

For the study, 204 children aged five to nine were recommended to undergo surgery while another 192 were asked to wait. The researchers followed the progress of the children for seven months and found that those who had a tonsillectomy ended up gaining more weight on average than those who did not get the procedure. Though overall weight differences were small, extra weight increased obesity risk.

Findings showed that 52 percent of children who were overweight before the surgery had become obese seven months after the procedure. In the group that waited, however, only 21 percent who were overweight became obese in the same time span.

Researchers are still uncertain what caused the weight gain in those who went through the surgical procedure. One theory is that because these children no longer have difficulties breathing during sleep, they could be burning fewer calories. However, another school of thought on the subject is that more sleep reduces hyperactivity during the daytime, which also reduces the number of calories burned throughout the day.

Future studies will need to be conducted in order to determine the results.

Obstructive sleep apnea occurs when constriction of the airways repeatedly blocks the individual's breathing at night. For children, this often results in a swelling of the tonsils and adenoids.