Adenoid hypertrophy among school-aged Iraqi children, the effect of severity and duration on its co-morbidities

Abstract

Adenoid hypertrophy is a common pediatrics health problem that usually results in several morbidities such as sleep disorder, adenoid facies, impaired physical growth, cardiac complications, glue ear and nocturnal enuresis. Patients and methods: Forty-two school-aged children were enrolled in this study (6-12 years old), thirty were male and twelve were female, all are suffering from chronic snoring. All of them were subjected to standard history and physical examination to the most related health problems such as assessment of physical growth, craniofacial malformation, associated tonsillar enlargement. Investigations were performed in the form of lateral neck X-ray and ECG for all of them. The study period was 9 months from 1st of March 2018 to the 1st of December 2018. Results: There was a significant association between a higher grade of disease and speech disorders, tonsillar hypertrophy, adenoid facies, recurrent otitis media, nocturnal enuresis, impaired school performance, physical growth impairment, apnea at sleep, day time drowsiness, ECG abnormalities and deglutition problems (P < 0.05).  The associated co-morbidities, namely Speech disorders, tonsillar hypertrophy, adenoid facies, recurrent otitis media, nocturnal enuresis, impaired school performance, impaired school performance, physical growth impairment, apnea at sleep, day time drowsiness, ECG abnormalities and deglutition problems, were significantly correlated to the longer duration of disease. Conclusion: Longer duration of disease and higher grade of adenoid hypertrophy are strongly correlated with disease complications and morbidities, hence early diagnosis and properly timed management is important to prevent these complications.