Tonsillectomy, the surgical removal of the tonsils, is typically performed on patients who suffer from an airway obstruction or recurrent infections in areas such as the ears, nose, and tonsils.1,2 Previous studies have explored the correlation between tonsillectomy and certain upper respiratory infections but found no significant association.3
We compared 7,590 patients who had a tonsillectomy to 7,590 patients who had tonsillitis without a history of having had a tonsillectomy between 2018 and 2021. We sought to understand the likelihood of COVID-19, influenza, middle ear infection (otitis media), strep throat, and sinusitis. We adjusted for patient age, sex, race, ethnicity, social vulnerability index, flu vaccination status, date of tonsillectomy, prior infection status, and rural urban commuting area (RUCA) score. Patients who have had their adenoids removed were excluded from both populations.
We found that patients who have had their tonsils removed have lower rates of influenza, otitis media, strep throat, and sinusitis, as seen in Figure 1. Patients who had their tonsils removed were 59% less likely to be diagnosed with strep throat than those who did not have a tonsillectomy, which represented the greatest reduction of likelihood of any of the infections studied. We did not find a statistically significant difference in the frequency of COVID-19 between patients who had undergone a tonsillectomy and those who had not.
We also studied the rates of hospital admission and emergency department (ED) visits for each of the conditions studied. There was no statistically significant difference in rates for hospitalizations for those that did and did not have their tonsils removed for any of the infections studied. Additionally, there was no statistically significant difference in the likelihood of ED visits between groups, except for strep throat. Patients who had a tonsillectomy were 43% less likely to visit the ED for strep throat than those who still had their tonsils.
