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A long-held belief is that adenotonsillectomy is effective for treatment of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in children. To evaluate this belief, investigators retrospectively reviewed preoperative and postoperative nocturnal polysomnography studies in 578 otherwise healthy children with OSA (age range, 8 months–18 years; 50% obese) who were undergoing adenotonsillectomy at eight pediatric sleep centers in the U.S. and Europe.
Data revealed significant improvement in sleep efficiency, number of awakenings, and total number of obstructive apneas after adenotonsillectomy. Although 90% of children had reductions in the obstructive apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) after adenotonsillectomy, 22% of children still had AHIs that met criteria for OSA, and on…