Is Adenoid Hypertrophy Associated with Childhood Afebrile Seizure?

Abstract

Objective: Afebrile seizures may occur during childhood and may recur with different etiologies. The relationship between hypoxia and disease has been frequently emphasized in the literature. Our aim was to determine whether airway stenosis and adenoid tissue volume are effective in the course of afebrile seizures and, if so, to determine how this relationship is correlated. Method: Adenoid tissue volume and nasopharyngeal distance were measured from brain magnetic resonance imaging images taken for routine cranial imaging of children aged 2-8 years who presented to the Pediatric Emergency Unit of Van Yüzüncü Yıl University Hospital with afebrile seizures. Demographic characteristics, anticonvulsant drug use, adenoid hypertrophy symptoms, and the number of convulsive episodes were recorded. Statistical analysis was performed on the variables determined. Results: This study examined 156 children who were admitted to the hospital with afebrile seizures between the specified dates, within the specified age range, and who met the inclusion criteria were examined. The mean ages of the 92 boys and 64 girls were 3.94±0.139 years. No statistically significant intergroup difference was found between the sexes regarding age, number of afebrile seizure episodes, or nasopharyngeal distance (p>0.05). Although 145 (92.9%) of the patients were using only one anticonvulsive drug, 11 (7.1%) were using two anticonvulsive drugs. Adenoid tissue volume dimensions were significantly higher in boys (2.17±0.09) than in girls (1.87±0.12) (p=0.023). There was a statistically significant positive correlation between adenoid volume and the number of afebrile seizure episodes (r=0.586, p=0.0001; n=156). Conclusion: Increased volumetric adenoid tissue size may be an effective factor in recurrent episodes of childhood afebrile seizure.

Keywords

• adenoid hypertrophia
• afebrile seizure
• childhood