Quality of life pre and post-adenotonsillectomy in pediatric patients

Abstract

Adenotonsillectomy is the most frequent surgical operation in otolaryngology, its main indication being the obstructive alterations of the upper airway associated to adenotonsillar hyperplasia. The post operatory result is normally evaluated in a subjective way and has not been systematically studied in our country. In this study, a survey on quality of life is utilized validated abroad (OSA-18), a pilot test is made and is later applied prospectively to 64 tutors of pediatric patients, before conducting the adenotonsillectomy and 3 months after the operation. Additionally the results are compared with a control group of 63 children from a nursery school. The average pre- operatory score in the sample was 4,3 (2,3-6,1), establishing significant differences with the 2,47 (1,3-3,5) of the controls. The average change score with the post surgical was 1,9. The survey shows a deterioration of sleep alterations, physical and emotional symptoms and degree of preoccupation of the children’s ward with surgical indication due to symptomatic adenotonsillar hyperplasia. Also the post-operatory evaluation shows a significant improvement in several aspects of the quality of life after the surgical operation.