Does tonsillectomy lead to improved outcomes over and above the effect of time? A longitudinal study.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the effect of tonsillectomy on morbidity in patients listed for tonsillectomy.


METHODS
Questionnaire survey of 257 children and 159 adults who had been listed for tonsillectomy. The cohort studied had experienced delays of greater than 12 months between being listed for tonsillectomy and undergoing surgery. They had responded to an earlier questionnaire in 2003 regarding morbidity experienced while waiting for surgery. The same questionnaire was presented to them again in 2005. Morbidity experienced in 2003 was compared to that experienced in 2005 in subjects who had and had not proceeded to surgery in the interval.


RESULTS
Forty-seven per cent of the cohort had undergone tonsillectomy. The questionnaire response rate was 48 per cent. Respondents reported less morbidity in 2005 than in 2003, whether or not they had had surgery. Respondents who had undergone tonsillectomy reported significantly greater reductions in morbidity than those who had not. Five per cent of children who had undergone tonsillectomy experienced at least three short episodes of tonsillitis in the six months before the questionnaire, compared with 35 per cent of those who had not undergone tonsillectomy (p < 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
The morbidity reported by patients suffering from chronic, untreated tonsillitis decreases with time. Tonsillectomy produces significantly greater reductions in morbidity than time alone.
Fox
R
R
Screening Services, Velindre NHS Trust, Cardiff, Wales, UK. rosemary.fox@velindre-tr.wales.nhs.uk
Temple
M
M
Owens
D
D
Short
A
A
Tomkinson
A
A
D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D014068:Tonsillectomy / Q000592:standards*; D014069:Tonsillitis / Q000601:surgery*; D016896:Treatment Outcome