Background and Objectve: Throat infections such as tonsilitis
and pharyngitis in children can lead to absence from school,
deferment from class, imposing treatment cost, and increasing the
use of antibiotics. In addition to decreased mucosal salivary and
mucosal immunity, smoking has harmful effects on oral
microflora and may lead to tonsilitis. The aim of this study was
to determine the effect of parents’ cigarette smoking on incidence
of tonsillectomy in children referred to Kashani Hospital in
Shahrekord during the period of 2017-2018.
Subjects and Methods: This cross-sectional study was
performed on children with tonsillitis who referred to ENT
department of Rasool and Imam Ali Clinic Shahrekord Medical
University. Eighty children aged 3 to 12 years old with tonsillitis
and tonsillectomy indications were included in the study.
Children age, gender and surgery type as well as information
about their mother and father cigarette smoking habits were
recorded. The data were analyzed by SPSS software using chisquare and logistic regression.
Results: from 80 children, 42.5% were male and 57.5% were
female. The mean age of children was 7.30±2.26 y. The cases of
adenoidectomy, tonsillectomy and adenotonsillectomy were 66.3,
32.5 and 1.3%, respectively. 2.5% of mothers of children and
45% of fathers of these children had cigarette smoking. From
smokers’father, 52.8% had cigarette smoking in outdoors and
47.2% had cigarette smoking indoor. There was no significant
relationship between the type of surgery and status and place of
cigarette smoking by mothers and fathers.
Conclusion: Although there was no significant relationship
between incidence of parents' cigarette smoking and
tonsillectomy, the prevalence of cigarette smoking was relatively
high among fathers of these children.
Key words: Tonsillectomy, Children, Passive smokin
