Impact of tonsillectomy on COVID–19 pandemic: an observational study of the incidence and prognosis

Abstract

Background

Due to many different reasons such as possible coronavirus colonization in tonsillar tissue, decreased enzymatic antiviral activity, decreased cytokine activity from palatine tonsil tissue and reduced humoral and cellular immune response, tonsillectomy may alter the incidence of Covid–19.

Aims/Objectives

To reveal the frequency of Covid–19 in patients who underwent tonsillectomy and to analyze the effect of tonsillectomy on the severity of the disease.

Materials and methods

Patients aged between 15 and 65 and had a history of tonsillectomy were compared with control group in terms of incidence and severity of Covid–19 disease.

Results

A 4% Covid rRT–PCR test positivity rate was detected in patients with tonsillectomy whereas; it was 6.8% in the control group with a statistically significant difference. However, in terms of disease severity there was no difference between the two groups.

Conclusions and significance

It has been proven that tonsillectomy surgery does not pose an additional risk in terms of COVID 19 disease severity. The positive effect of tonsillectomy in terms of disease frequency has been even demonstrated for the first time in the literature.

Chinese abstract

背景：由于许多不同的原因, 例如扁桃体组织中可能存在冠状病毒定植, 酶促抗病毒活性降低, 腭扁桃体组织细胞因子活性降低以及体液和细胞免疫反应降低, 扁桃体切除术可能会改变 Covid-19 的发病率。

目的：发现在接受扁桃体切除术的患者中, Covid-19感染的发生频率。分析扁桃体切除术对Covid-19病情严重程度的影响。

材料和方法：将年龄在 15-65 岁之间、有扁桃体切除史的患者与对照组进行了在 Covid-19 的感染率和严重程度方面的比较。

结果：扁桃体切除术患者的 Covid rRT-PCR 检测阳性率为 4%, 而对照组为 6.8%, 差异有统计学意义。但在病情严重程度方面, 两组之间没有差异。

结论和意义：已证明扁桃体切除术不会对 COVID 19 病情的严重程度造成额外风险。扁桃体切除术在发病频率方面的积极作用首次在文献中得到证实。

Keywords:

• COVID19
• coronavirus
• tonsillectomy
• immunity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).