Clinical presentation, radiographic findings, and treatment outcomes in children with adenoid hypertrophy in a paediatric outpatient clinic in Enugu, Nigeria

Objectives: To determine the clinical presentation, imaging features and outcomes of children with adenoid hypertrophy in our setting.

Design: A retrospective study.

Setting: The paediatric clinic of a private hospital in Enugu.

Participants: 51 children, aged 2 to 108 months, with suggestive clinical features and radiographic report of adenoid hypertrophy who presented over 3 years.

Interventions: Clinical information was obtained from the patient's medical records. Data was analysed for the clinical characteristics of the patients, the relationship between the degree of airway narrowing on a postnasal space (PNS) radiograph and treatment outcomes.

Main outcome measures: Degree of airway narrowing as measured on a PNS radiograph, the type of and outcomes of treatment.

Results: There was an almost equal male (54.7%): female (45.1%) ratio in the occurrence of adenoid hypertrophy, with a mean age of occurrence of 31.50 ± 3.64 months. Noisy breathing was the commonest symptom (94.1%); history of atopic rhinitis in 64.7% of cases and hyperactive airway disease in 45.1% more than 50% of cases with airway narrowing resolved with medical management only.

Conclusion: Adenoid hypertrophy should be considered in evaluating the upper airway in children under five. Paediatricians should be conversant with diagnosing and managing this common cause of upper airway obstruction.

Funding: None declared.