Young to lose no sleep with tonsil surgery

Surgery to remove at an early age the tonsils of young patients suffering from sleep apnea will alleviate their condition and lower their blood pressure, a study by the Chinese University has found.

But its medical school recommended parents monitor children's weight following surgery, as a gain in their mass would hinder improvements in blood pressure.

The school previously estimated 5 percent of primary school children in Hong Kong suffer from obstructive sleep apnea.

The CUHK research team said these children might have enlarged tonsils and adenoids, which are part of lymphatic tissues in their throat that had became too large and blocked their breathing.

Snoring, night sweats and breathing through the mouth are among the common symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea.

The problem would cause children to have difficulty concentrating and behaving properly, and even lead to heart and blood pressure problems when they grow up, said professor of pediatrics Albert Li Man-chim.

He added that surgery would remove the enlarged lymphatic tissues that blocked breathing.

"The symptoms are much better, and for blood pressure, we see those with more severe disease, their blood pressure comes down after surgery," Li said.

He and his team studied 109 non-obese children aged six to 11 years who had symptoms of sleep apnea.

All of them underwent a sleep test, and the changes in their blood pressure were also recorded at the baseline and nine months after a randomly assigned intervention of either early surgery or watchful waiting, according to the study.

The results showed that children who underwent surgery saw significantly reductions in the severity of their sleep disorder when compared to watchful waiting.

After surgery, the average number of obstructive respiratory events per hour during sleep decreased to four from an average of 23, which means most severe cases had become conditions that were mild to moderate.

Severe patients also saw decreases in nighttime blood pressure.

However, this effect was not observed in those with mild or moderate disease.

Meanwhile, the group who conducted surgery saw a greater increase in body mass index than others, as well as an increase in daytime blood pressure, which means the improvement in blood pressure from surgery was partially masked by weight gains.

Kate Chan Ching-ching, an associate professor from the department of pediatrics, said a weight gain could be due to patients having better sleep after surgery.

"For these patients, breathing could consume much energy during sleep. As their breathing was blocked, they would often wake up," Chan said.

"Therefore, after the surgery, they slept better than before, and they didn't have to use so much energy to breathe.

"Even if the amount of food they consumed remains the same, they would still experience a weight gain as they used less energy."

She reminded children should maintain a healthy diet and exercise regularly to help control their weight after the surgery.