Postoperative Pulmonary Complications following Adenotonsillectomy in Pediatric Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea in a Tertiary Government Hospital

Objective. Our study aimed to identify and describe pulmonary complications and its associated risk factors in children with suspected or confirmed obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) who underwent tonsillectomy or adenotonsillectomy in a tertiary government hospital.

Methods. We conducted a retrospective cohort study. Medical charts of pediatric patients with suspected or
confirmed OSA who were admitted for tonsillectomy or adenotonsillectomy from January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2020 were retrieved and reviewed. Information of the individual patients including the demographic data, clinical profile, polysomnography results, and presence of postoperative pulmonary complications were recorded. Descriptive statistics was utilized to present continuous data while frequency and percentage for categorical data. Fisher exact test was used to compare the demographic profile of patients with postoperative pulmonary complications from those without.

Results. A total of 90 patient records were analyzed. The mean age of the patient population was 7.87 years, 55.6% were male, 17.8% of patients were classified as obese. Thirty-four children had preoperative polysomnography and of these, 47.1% were classified as severe. Only two (2.2%) patients had postoperative pulmonary complications, which were bronchospasm and desaturation, respectively. There were no statistically significant differences noted in comparing the clinicodemographic profile of patients with postoperative pulmonary complications from those without complications.

Conclusion. Our results showed that most pediatric patients with suspected or confirmed OSA who underwent
adenotonsillectomy did not have pulmonary complications.