If your child has large tonsils that cause obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) or mild sleep disorder breathing (SDB) and behavioral problems, removing his tonsils and adenoids (adenotonsillectomy) may help.
Children with OSAS may actually stop breathing while sleeping, which causes them to suddenly awaken and then go back to sleep. Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome results in poor quality sleep, daytime drowsiness, and even falling asleep during the day. Sleep disorder breathing may cause some of the same problems.
Forty children three to eighteen years old with either OSAS (23) or SDB (17) were evaluated with standardized tests for sleep quality and behavior before having an adenotonsillectomy and then three months post surgery. When re-evaluated, all the children showed significant improvement in both areas.
According to Ron Mitchell, MD, a pediatric laryngologist at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, "Without a control group, all we can say is that adenotonsillectomy and improved behavior were associated, not necessarily correlated."
Pediatric News, 12/06
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