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Variation in paediatric tonsillectomy rates between Scottish health board areas, 2001–2018: is socio-economic deprivation to blame?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 June 2022

H Kubba Open the ORCID record for H Kubba [Opens in a new window]  and
L S Downie
H Kubba*
Affiliation:
Department of ENT, Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow, Scotland, UK
L S Downie
Affiliation:
Department of ENT, Scottish Public Health Observatory, Public Health Scotland, Glasgow, Scotland, UK
*
Author for correspondence: Mr Kubba, Department of ENT, Royal Hospital for Children, 1345 Govan Road, Glasgow G51 4TF, Scotland, UK E-mail: haytham.kubba@glasgow.ac.uk
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Abstract

Background

Tonsillectomy is one of the commonest operations in children. Routinely collected national data were used to assess variations in the paediatric tonsillectomy rate across Scotland, and to determine if socio-economic deprivation is the cause.

Method

The Scottish Morbidity Records were reviewed for all children (0–16 years) undergoing tonsillectomy from 2001 to 2018.

Results

The mean annual tonsillectomy rate was 2.64 per 1000 children. Rates in each health board area varied from 1.24 to 3.9 per 1000. Half of this variation resulted from transfers between regions. There was a 1.75-fold difference between tonsillectomy rates in the most and least deprived population quintiles, but this did not account for the geographical variation.

Conclusion

Half the variance in paediatric tonsillectomy rates is associated with children being transferred between regions for treatment. After accounting for this, there is a 1.5-fold difference in rate between health board areas, which is not related to socio-economic deprivation and is currently unexplained.

Keywords

TonsillectomyObstructive Sleep ApneaTonsillitisChildren
Type
Main Article
Information
The Journal of Laryngology & Otology , Volume 137 , Issue 3 , March 2023 , pp. 285 - 292
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of J.L.O. (1984) LIMITED

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Footnotes

Mr H Kubba takes responsibility for the integrity of the content of the paper

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