Impact of Tonsillectomy on Quality-of-life in Children: Our Experience.

ABSTRACT

An important requirement of contemporary medicine is the assessment of patient benefit or change in health status resulting from medical or surgical intervention. Tonsillectomy is a commonly performed surgery in children. Its indications and benefits have been documented in the literature but to the best of our knowledge, there have been no Indian studies to measure the quality-of-life (QOL), post-tonsillectomy, in children. Objective: To assess QOL of children after tonsillectomy, with or without adenoidectomy. Study design and setting: Retrospective study in a tertiary referral center. Methodology: The sample consisted of 136 children who had undergone tonsillectomy with or without adenoidectomy over a period of two years. The parents of these children were sent a questionnaire to assess their QOL six months after the surgery. The questionnaire used was a modified version of Glasgow Children’s Benefit Inventory (GCBI), a post-intervention, health-related benefit measure. Results: Forty-four questionnaires were returned (32.2% response rate). Four questionnaires were declared invalid. Two parents reported worsening of a few symptoms, resulting in a negative score. In the remainder, the total score ranged from 2.08 to 91.6. Conclusions: Sixty-eight percent of the parents were extremely satisfied after the surgery. Overall, the parents reported change for the better in various observed aspects of the life of their children as reflected in the positive scores after intervention. Most of them reported decreased number of visits to the doctor and decreased need for antibiotic prescription, that is, there was an improvement in the ‘physical health’ aspect of the life of children. But there was no change observed in the ‘emotional and psychosocial’ aspect of behavior in children.