(Mirror Daily, United States) – A new study has found that removing your kid’s tonsils can boost their risk of allergic reactions, infectious disease, and long-term respiratory disease, like asthma.
Scientists have focused on the long-term effects of the removal of tonsils (tonsillectomy) and adenoid glands (adenoidectomy).
Study authors do not recommend the two pediatric surgeries as there can be healthier alternatives.
Tonsillectomy is performed to cure tonsillitis while adenoidectomy is performed to cure chronic middle ear infections. Researchers explained that people’s tonsils and adenoids are the first line of defense against infections.
The lymph nodes and glands can detect airborne viruses and bacteria and prompt an immune reaction to them.
A research group at the Copenhagen Evolutionary Medicine was able to track four groups of children for several years. One group had their adenoids removed, the second groups had tonsils removed, the other third group had undergone both medical procedures, while the control group had not had any of the procedures.
Removing Your Kid’s Tonsils Can Negatively Impact Their Immune System
Dr. Sean Byars of the University of Melbourne, who was involved in the study, explained that removing tonsils and adenoids in the first 9 years of the child’s life is very detrimental to their health. In the first nine years, the immune system is undergoing a phase of maximum development, according to researchers.
The study appeared recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.
The study involved 1,189,061 Danish children who were tracked for at least the first decade of their life. More than 17,000 of the children had their adenoids removed and nearly 12,000 had their tonsils removed. Over 31,000 children underwent both surgeries.
The study revealed that the removal of tonsils boosted the risk of upper respiratory tract diseases by three times. These conditions include pneumonia, the flu, bronchitis, and asthma.
The absolute risk for these conditions was 18.61% higher in kids who underwent the surgeries. The removal of adenoids doubled the risk of conjunctivitis, COPD, and upper respiratory tract disease.
Image Source: health.mil