Acute tonsillitis

Risk factors of asthma-like symptoms in childhood may act through an increased infection burden as infections often trigger these symptoms. ObjectiveTo investigate whether the effect of established risk factors of asthma-like episodes in early childhood is mediated through burden and subtypes of common infections.

The study included 662 children from the COPSAC₂₀₁₀ mother-child cohort, where infections were registered prospectively in daily diaries at age 0-3 years. The association between established risk factors of asthma-like episodes and infection burden was analysed by quasi-Poisson regressions and mediation analyses were performed for significant risk factors.

In the first three years of life, the children experienced a median of 16 (interquartile range 12-23) infectious episodes. We found that the infection burden significantly (P_ACME<0.05) mediated the association of maternal asthma (36.6% mediated), antibiotics during pregnancy (47.3%), siblings at birth (57.7%), an asthma exacerbation polygenic risk score (30.6%), and a bacterial airway immune score (80.2%) with number of asthma-like episodes, whereas the higher number of episodes from male sex, low birth weight and gestational age, and maternal antibiotic use after birth was not mediated through an increased infection burden. Subtypes of infections driving the mediation were primarily colds, pneumonia, gastroenteritis, and fever; but not acute otitis media or acute tonsillitis.

Several risk factors of asthma-like symptoms in early childhood act through an increased infection burden in the first three years of life. Prevention of infectious episodes may therefore be beneficial to reduce the burden of asthma-like symptoms in early childhood.

Peritonsillar abscess (PTA) is often seen as a complication of acute tonsillitis and is defined as pus retention between the tonsillar capsule and the peritonsillar tissue. The etiology and pathogenesis have not yet been fully elucidated. A connection between certain weather conditions and temperature fluctuations and the occurrence of abscesses in the head and neck region has been discussed for years. The question here is whether higher temperature fluctuations are predisposing for the formation of abscesses.

A retrospective evaluation of all patients hospitalized with peritonsillitis or PTA in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology of the Klinikum Rechts der Isar of the Technical University of Munich during a period of 10 years (2012-2021) was performed. Each patient was individually correlated with daily temperature data from the statistical meteorological office of the City of Munich.

A total of 1450 patients were included, 270 patients (18.62%) with peritonsillitis and 1180 patients (81.38%) with PTA. A correlation between the occurrence of peritonsillitis or PTA and major temperature fluctuations could be excluded in this large patient population. Moreover, a similar frequency of peritonsillitis and PTA was seen throughout the year.

The myth of a temperature dependence of the development of peritonsillitis or PTA and a so-called abscess weather could be negated in this study.

Evidence-based indication for tonsil surgery in patients with recurrent acute tonsillitis (RAT) is an ongoing matter of debate. Since introduction of the German tonsillitis guideline in 2015, the indication criteria for tonsil surgery have become much stricter. It is unclear, if this has changed the indication policy. A retrospective population-based study was performed including all 1398 patients with RAT admitted for tonsil surgery in all Thuringian hospitals in 2011, 2015, and 2019. Changes over the years concerning patients' characteristics, number of tonsillitis episodes in the last 12 months treated with antibiotics (T12), and decision for tonsillectomy or tonsillotomy were analyzed using univariable and multivariable statistics. The surgical rates decreased from 28.56/100,000 population in 2011 to 23.57 in 2015, and to 11.60 in 2019. The relative amount of patients with ≥ 6 T12 increased from 14.1% in 2011 over 13.3% in 2015 to 35.9% in 2019. Most patients received a tonsillectomy (98% of all surgeries). Decision for tonsillotomy was seldom (1.2%). Multinomial logistic regression analysis with the year 2011 as reference showed that compared to the year 2015, the age of the patients undergoing surgery increased in 2015 (Odds ratio [OR] = 1.024; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.014-1.034; p < 0.001), and also in 2019 (OR 1.030: CI 1.017-1.043; p < 0.001). Compared to 2011, the number T12 was not higher in 2015, but in 2019 (OR 1.273; CI 1.185-1.367; p < 0.001). Stricter rules led to lower tonsil surgery rates but to a higher proportion of patients with ≥ 6 T12 before surgery. Tonsillectomy remained the dominating technique.