Sarcouncil Journal of Medicine and Surgery

Abstract: This paper examines the effects of adenotonsillectomy on children aged below 5 years with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), in terms of clinical outcomes and quality of life. The study was a cross-sectional study on 103 patients who had a mean age of 41.2 months. The polysomnographic results in the postoperative period revealed a notable decrease in apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) of 18.6 occurrences per hour before surgery to 4.1 occurrences per hour after surgery, and other measures of oxygen saturation and the quality of sleep were also increased. The quality of life was evaluated with the help of the OSA-18 questionnaire, which revealed the dramatic postoperative improvement of the quality of life as the mean score dropped to 38.2. There were high reports of symptom resolutions, such as snoring, with 92.2% of the parents reporting the resolution of loud snoring and general improvement in the symptoms, but some of the patients still reported residual OSA symptoms. Multivariate analysis had found preoperative AHI, obesity, and the existence of asthma to be primary foretellers of continuant postoperative OSA. To sum up, adenotonsillectomy in children who are below the age of five with OSA is related to a significant decrease in the severity of the disease and significant changes in quality of life, though there is still a group of patients who continue to experience the symptoms.