MONDAY, May 16 (HealthDay News) -- Half of children with sleep apnea who also wet the bed might stop their bedwetting if their tonsils or adenoids are removed, new research suggests.
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is marked by interruptions in breathing while asleep; it is common among children with enlarged tonsils or adenoids. Exactly how sleep apnea results in bedwetting is not fully understood, but hormonal changes may play a role.
However, half of the 417 children in this latest study who had sleep apnea and were bedwetters stopped wetting the bed after they had their tonsils or adenoids removed. Children in the study were aged 5 to 18, and were followed for just under one year after their surgery, on average.
Those who did not stop wetting the bed after the surgery were more likely to be born prematurely, be male, be obese or have a family history of bedwetting, the investigators noted. Premature birth was the greatest predictor of continued bedwetting after surgery.
"If they haven't seen an ear, nose and throat specialist, see one to see if the child who wets the bed has OSA that can be cured by tonsil or adenoid removal," said study author Dr. Yegappan Lakshmanan, chief of pediatric urology at Children's Hospital of Michigan, in Detroit.
The findings were to be presented Monday at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association (AUA), in Washington, D.C. Research presented at medical meetings should be viewed as preliminary until it has been published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.
There are many other causes of bedwetting, Lakshmanan said. "About 5 to 7 million children are bedwetters, and the causes fall into three main groups: bladder issues, sleep-related problems and the kidneys," he explained. "The children in this study wet the bed due to sleep-related problems."
So why weren't they all cured? "Bedwetting is multifactorial ev
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