A novel US study found that tonsil removal surgery or tonsillectomy has been associated with weight gain kids. The team of researchers led by Dr. Anita Jeyakumar, a pediatric ENT specialist from the Saint Louis University, instigated a study intended to find out how tonsils caused obesity in children.
To verify the effects of tonsillectomy in obesity, researchers analyzed the statistics of nine studies conducted between 1970 and 2009 on more than eight hundred kids aged up to eighteen years. All of the participants underwent tonsillectomy with or without removing adenoids. The study was randomly categorized in three clusters.
The body mass index –BMI was used as weight gain marker and in first cluster one hundred and twenty-seven kids, in second cluster two hundred and fifty children who had gained fifty to seventy-five percent of body weight after the surgery. The remaining was included in the last cluster.
Crossways all three analysis, an association between tonsillectomy and greater-than-expected weight gain was seen, regardless of whether children were normal weight or overweight prior to surgery, stated Dr. Anita. The study recommended that tonsil removal could escort to obesity, but experts believe that the outcomes of the study should not be taken seriously.
Tonsil removal is the one of the most frequently executed surgeries in children with more than half a million kids in US. Having their tonsils and adenoids detached every year. While the new research does not demonstrate a direct connection between the tonsil surgery and weight gain, explained study authors.
The lifestyle plays a major role in childhood obesity, the exact cause of the outbreak which has overwhelmed in the United States is not known. The numbers of tonsillectomies have dropped in past times and sleep disordered breathing problem is the main sign of tonsils these days, dissimilar past when infections were related with tonsils, added Dr. Anita
The parents should not be overly worried by the findings. There is a big disparity between association and cause. It is good that these studies have raised the question, but we certainly cannot say surgery contributes to obesity, Pediatric otolaryngologist Julie Wei from the University Of Kansas School Of Medicine in Kansas City