Mouth breathing in children with learning disorders

Given the importance of studying the causes of learning disorders, we designed this case-control study to assess the nasal cavity volume, pharyngeal and palatine tonsils in children with and without learning disabilities. METHOD: A total of forty-eight children were enrolled in the study: twenty-four coming from the Center for Evaluation and Early Stimulation (CADEP), in which the criterion is the school failure of at least two consecutive years; and twenty-four students with normal learning - which made up the control group. The children were submitted to ENT examination (history, physical examination) and specific tests (acoustic rhinometry, cavum radiography). RESULTS: The results showed that students with learning disabilities have a higher prevalence of pharyngeal tonsil hypertrophy: p < 0.001, and palatine tonsil hypertrophy: p < 0.001. The average volume of the nasal cavities showed no statistically significant association with learning difficulties (p = 0.75). CONCLUSION: Based on this study, we concluded that children with adenotonsillar hypertrophy have more learning difficulties when compared to children without such hypertrophy.