Quality of life after surgical treatment of children with obstructive sleep apnea:: Long-term results

Objectives: To measure the long-term impact of tonsillectomy and/or adenoidectomy (T&tA) on children with obstructive steep apnea (OSA). Methods: A controlled study on 101 OSA children, operated between June 1999 and January 2001. The OSD-6 was used to assess the results. The caregivers of these patients were asked about their subjective impression prior to surgery (first evaluation), 8 days after the procedure (second evaluation), and with a minimum follow-up of 3 years after the operation (third evaluation). Results: Mean of follow-up was 61.9 +/- 13.1 months (range, 36-75 months). The total mean survey score showed a highly significant improvement when comparing first evaluation versus second evaluation, first evaluation versus third evaluation, and second evaluation versus third evaluation (p < 0.001). In the same way, we found a favourable outcome in the six domains when visits were compared. Only steep disturbance between second and third evaluation did not show a significant improvement (p > 0.05). There were not differences in the postsurgical outcome of quality of life (QOL) according to the remaining factors studied (p > 0.05). Conclusions: Children with OSA who undergo surgery show a significant long-term improvement in QOL. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.