TONSILLECTOMY

Objectives: To determine the quality - of - life benefit derived from Tonsillectomy and its specificimpacts. Design: A Cross sectional survey. Setting: ENT Department, CMH Rawalpindi. Period: From 01 Jan 2004to 31 Dec 2004. Material & Methods: The Glasgow Benefit Inventory (GBI) was used to quantify the health benefitof tonsillectomy. Data was collected for demographics and antibiotic use, physician visit, and school days missed dueto chronic tonsillitis for 12 months before and after tonsillectomy. This study includes the patients who had undergonetonsillectomy alone. Results: A total of 102 patient met inclusion criteria for this study. Sixty five parents returnedcomplete survey of their children. The mean age was 10.3 years (5-15 years). The improvements in the total score(+27.1), general health sub score (+34.7), social functioning sub score (+14.2), and physical functioning sub score(9.38) were each statistically significant (P<.001), indicating a significant health benefit of tonsillectomy. Statisticallysignificant decreases in mean weeks receiving antibiotics (-7.8 weeks), mean physician visits (-5.4), and meanschooldays missed (-6.3 days) were noted after tonsillectomy (P<.001). Conclusion: Tonsillectomy provides asignificant quality-of-life improvement for children with chronic tonsillitis. Tonsillectomy also affords decreases inmedical resource utilization and missed school days after tonsillectomy. Such factors should be incorporated intodecision making when considering tonsillectomy.