Full text article. Also available at http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/issn.2454-5929.ijohns20195707
Background:
Adenotonsillar hypertrophy remains to be the commonest causes of sleep disordered breathing in paediatric patients and has been implicated as a cause of primary and secondary enuresis. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of adenotonsillectomy in resolution of enuresis in children with sleep-disordered breathing.
Methods:
A hospital based prospective cohort study was conducted at Ekenywa Specialised Hospital in Dar es Salaam, from May 2018 to February 2019. Two hundred children aged 3 to 15 years with obstructive adenotonsillar hypertrophy who were admitted ready to undergo adenotonsillectomy were evaluated. Upon such evaluation, the primary outcome was the number of bedwetting incidents (nocturnal enuresis) post-operatively compared with pre-operative incidents. Patients were kept under follow-up for 3 months. Data were collected using structured questionnaires regarding number of bedwetting incidents, type of enuresis (primary or secondary) and family history of enuresis. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 21 and p-values <0.05 were considered to be statistically significant.
Results:
Of 200 children admitted for adenotonsillectomy, 80 (40%) had a positive history of preoperative enuresis, including 35 (43.8%) girls and 45 (56.2%) boys. All parents for the children consented to participate in the study. Three months after adenotonsillectomy, enuresis had resolved completely in 50 (62.5%) children and had shown relative improvement in 25 (31.3%) children. Enuresis had not improved in the remaining 5 (6.3%) children (p<0.05).
Conclusions:
Findings from this study indicates that adenotonsillectomy can improve nocturnal enuresis and day-time incontinence in the majority of children with adenotonsillar hypertrophy.