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The risk of overweight and obesity in children after tonsillectomy: a cross-sectional study

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Abstract

The aim of this cross-sectional study was to determine the prevalence of tonsillectomy among secondary school children and to investigate whether tonsillectomy with or without adenoidectomy is a risk factor for childhood obesity. A total of 27 secondary schools with 12,296 students between the ages 11 and 17 were screened in Denizli, Turkey. We determined 129 students who had undergone tonsillectomy; each student was matched with two healthy control subjects of the same age and sex (n = 258). A 28-item questionnaire on nutrition and physical exercise was completed by the parents. Age-adjusted body mass index and waist circumference percentiles of Turkish boys and girls were used for the assessment of overweight and obesity. The prevalence of tonsillectomy was 1.0 %. There was no significant relationship between having tonsillectomy and being overweight or obese and physical exercise and screen time (p > 0.05 for each). Logistic regression analyses suggested no significant effect of tonsillectomy on overweight or obesity of the subjects (p > 0.05). It seems that tonsillectomy had no effect on overweight and obesity among children.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to thank the parents and students who participated in this survey, the teachers who helped in data collection, and finally the fifth-year medical students Orhan Kara, Caglayan Yavuz, Guven Erbay, Sahabettin Mete, Nergiz Girgin, Mine Atun, Tugba Ramasli, Mahmut Burak Kilci and Goksu Comlekcioglu who took part in this survey within the scope of an elective module.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine C103, Pamukkale University, 20070, Denizli, Turkey

    Kenan Topal

  2. Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Faculty of Medicine, Pamukkale University, Denizli, Turkey

    Cuneyt Orhan Kara

  3. Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Pamukkale University, Denizli, Turkey

    Ali Ihsan Bozkurt

  4. Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Cukurova University, Adana, Turkey

    Esra Saatci

Authors
  1. Kenan Topal
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  2. Cuneyt Orhan Kara
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  3. Ali Ihsan Bozkurt
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  4. Esra Saatci
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kenan Topal.

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Topal, K., Kara, C.O., Bozkurt, A.I. et al. The risk of overweight and obesity in children after tonsillectomy: a cross-sectional study. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 270, 689–694 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-012-2064-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-012-2064-x

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