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Atopy does not affect the frequency of adenotonsillar hypertrophy and sleep apnoea in children who snore
Author(s) -
Alexopoulos Emmanouel I.,
Bizakis John,
Gourgoulianis Konstantinos,
Kaditis Athanasios G.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
acta paediatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/apa.12774
Subject(s) - medicine , atopy , polysomnography , muscle hypertrophy , odds ratio , confidence interval , pediatrics , asthma , apnea
Aim Viral respiratory infections and atopy have been implicated in the pathogenesis of adenotonsillar hypertrophy and obstructive sleep apnoea ( OSA ), but the role of atopy is controversial. We aimed to test our hypothesis that atopy, expressed as physician‐diagnosed eczema, was associated with adenotonsillar hypertrophy and OSA among children who snored. Methods Data on children who snored and were referred for polysomnography were reviewed. The primary outcome measures were adenotonsillar hypertrophy and OSA . Results We analysed data on 855 children with a mean age (±standard deviation) of 6.3 (±2.5) years and median obstructive apnoea–hypopnea index of 2.1 episodes per hour. Of the 855 subjects, 133 (15.6%) had physician‐diagnosed eczema, 591 (69.1%) had adenoidal hypertrophy, 605 (70.8%) had tonsillar hypertrophy, 219 (25.6%) were obese and 470 (55%) had OSA . Eczema was not related to adenoidal or tonsillar hypertrophy after adjustment for gender and age, with odds ratios ( OR ) of 1.00 (95% confidence interval 0.67–1.49; p = 0.98) and 0.88 (95% confidence interval 0.59–1.32; p = 0.54), respectively. Similarly, eczema did not affect OSA frequency after adjustment for adenoidal and tonsillar hypertrophy, obesity, gender and age, with an adjusted OR of 0.82 (0.56–1.21; p = 0.32). Conclusions Atopy was not related to adenotonsillar hypertrophy or OSA in children who snore.