Patients with allergic rhinitis are more likely to need a secondary adenoidectomy after 6 months

Adenoidectomy, without concomitant procedures like tonsillectomy, is the third most common ambulatory pediatric operation. Allergic rhinitis is a common comorbidity that is known to cause adenoid hypertrophy. With time and progression, adenoid hypertrophy can become symptomatic and necessitate removal. Our aim is to assess how patients diagnosed with allergic rhinitis affect the need for a secondary adenoidectomy over time.

We queried the TriNetX database and produced the statistical analysis for this project. The control group consisted of patients who have not been diagnosed with allergic rhinitis and have undergone a primary adenoidectomy. Cohorts were balanced using native TriNetX propensity matching before analysis. Outcomes measured included the presence of secondary adenoidectomy after 0-0.5, 0.5-1, 1-2, 2-3, 3-4, 4-5, 5-7, and 7+ years of primary adenoidectomy.

65,106 patients were assessed with a mean average age of 6.36 ± 7.82 and 6.34 ± 7.71 years between the control and experimental group. There was no difference in secondary adenoidectomy occurrences between the two groups between 1 day and 0.5 years after primary adenoidectomy (p = 0.896, RR 1.632 (0.922,2.888)). There was a difference between 0.5 and 1 year (p < 0.0001), 1-2 years (p < 0.0001), 2-3 years (p < 0.0001), 3-4 years (p = 0.001), 4-5 years (p = 0.001), 5-7 years (p = 0.0002), and more than 7 years (p = 0.0023).

After 0.5 years of primary adenoidectomy surgery, patients diagnosed with allergic rhinitis are more likely to need a secondary adenoidectomy compared to their counterparts not diagnosed with allergic rhinitis.