Abstract
Objectives: To investigate parental perceptions of the effects
of tonsillectomy on their child’s quality of life while awaiting and
following surgery in an Australian public health system.
Design: An observational pragmatic study.
Setting: A tertiary Australian Hospital.
Participants: Parents of paediatric patients (2 to 16 years of
age) listed for tonsillectomy.
Main outcome measures: Parents completed a validated quality of
life questionnaire (T-14 Paediatric Throat Disorders Outcome Test) at
the initial consultation, on day of surgery, 6 weeks post-operatively
and 6 months post-operatively. T-14 scores were compared using the
Related-Samples Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test.
Results: Parents of 167 children participated in this study.
There was a median wait time of 174 days (IQR 108 – 347) from the
initial consultation until the day of surgery, with no significant
change in median T-14 scores (35 [IQR 22 - 42] vs 36 [IQR 22 -
42]; n= 63; p > 0.05). There was a significant decrease
from pre-operative T-14 scores to 6 weeks post-operatively (33.5 [IQR
22 - 42] vs 2 [IQR 0 - 5]; n = 160; p < 0.001), and this
was sustained with a minor improvement at 6 months post-operatively
(6-week 2 [IQR 0 - 5] vs 6-month 0 [IQR 0 - 2]; n = 148; p
< 0.001).
Conclusion: Paediatric tonsillectomy improves quality of life
with a sustained benefit in the long term. There is no improvement to
the patient’s quality of life while awaiting tonsillectomy, thus patient
welfare can be improved through reducing waiting times for surgery.