MONDAY, Dec. 9, 2024 (HealthDay News) — The surgical removal of tonsils or adenoids in young people is associated with an increased risk for subsequent stress-related disorders, according to a study published online Dec. 9 in JAMA Network Open.
Xue Xiao, M.D., Ph.D., from the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University in Nanning, China, and colleagues examined whether the surgical removal of tonsils or adenoids is associated with a subsequent risk for stress-related disorders in a cohort study using Swedish nationwide population and health registry data of all individuals born between Jan. 1, 1981, and Dec. 31, 2016. Individuals who had undergone surgical removal of tonsils or adenoids (exposed persons) were compared to matched unrelated unexposed individuals (population-matched cohort [83,957 exposed and 839,570 unexposed persons]) and to full siblings (sibling-matched cohort [51,601 exposed and 75,159 unexposed full siblings]).
The researchers found that exposed persons exhibited a higher subsequent risk for stress-related disorders compared with the unexposed population reference (hazard ratio, 1.43), particularly posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD; hazard ratio, 1.55). In the sibling-matched cohort, the results were replicated (hazard ratios, 1.34 and 1.41 for any stress-related disorder and PTSD, respectively). The increased risk was observed irrespective of sex, age at surgery, time since surgery, parental educational attainment, or parental history of stress-related disorders.
“If our findings here are validated in future studies of independent study populations, mechanistic studies would be needed to disentangle the role of human tonsils and their diseases, via inflammation or other associated health conditions, in the development of psychiatric disorders in general and stress-related disorders specifically,” the authors write.
One author disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry.
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