Increased risk of many early-life diseases after surgical removal of adenoids and tonsils in childhood

Abstract

AbstractBACKGROUNDSurgical removal of the adenoids and tonsils are common pediatric procedures, with conventional wisdom suggesting their absence has little impact on health or disease. However, little is known about long-term health consequences beyond the perioperative risks. Such ignorance is significant, for these lymphatic organs play important roles in both the development and the function of the immune system.METHODSWe tested the long-term consequences of surgery in the population of Denmark by examining risk for 28 diseases with ̴1 million individuals followed from birth up to 30 years of age depending on whether any of three common surgeries (adenoidectomy, tonsillectomy, adenotonsillectomy) occurred in the first 9 years of life. To weigh costs and benefits, we also compared the absolute risks for these diseases to the risks for the conditions that these surgeries aimed to treat. We obtained robust results by using stratified Cox regressions with statistically well-powered samples of cases (with surgery) and controls (without surgery) whose general health was no different prior to surgery. We adjusted our estimates of risk for diseases occurring before surgery, stratified for sex (and other effects) and for 18 covariates, including parental disease history and birth metrics.RESULTSWe found significantly elevated relative risks for many diseases, with effects on respiratory, allergic and infectious disorders after removal of adenoids and tonsils being most pronounced. For some of these diseases, absolute risk increases were considerable. In comparison, many risks for conditions that surgeries aimed to treat were either not significantly different or significantly higher following surgery up to 30 years of age. This suggests that any immediate benefits of these surgeries may not continue longer-term, while resulting in slightly compromised early adult health due to significantly increased risk of many non-target diseases.CONCLUSIONSOur results indicate that surgical removal of tonsils and adenoids early in life are associated with longer-term health risks. They underline the importance of these organs and tissues for normal immune functioning and early immune development, and suggest that these longer-term disease risks may outweigh the short-term benefits of these surgeries.