A comparison of sleep quality in normal children and children awaiting (adeno)tonsillectomy for recurrent tonsillitis.

Poor quality sleep and sleep-related hypoxia have been described in children awaiting (adeno)tonsillectomy even in the absence of a history which would suggest such problems. However, restless sleep has also been commonly reported in children from a normal population. It has not been shown whether an increasing frequency of tonsillitis is associated with deterioration in sleep quality. This study directly compares sleep quality in three groups of children: (1) a normal population; (2) children from a normal population who have tonsillitis but are not awaiting tonsillectomy; and (3) children awaiting tonsillectomy for recurrent tonsillitis. A questionnaire was completed by the parents and the answers compared using the chi2 and Spearman's rank correlation tests. The results show that children awaiting tonsillectomy have poorer sleep quality than their normal peers. However, there is no dose-response effect between deteriorating sleep quality and increasing frequency of tonsillitis.