Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Otolaryngologic Surgeries in Iranian Pediatrics

Background: There is no study about the evaluation of incidence rates of tonsillectomy, adenoidectomy, and ear surgeries before and during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the impact of pandemic peaks on the incidence rates of these operations in the world, particularly in Iran. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the number of most common otolaryngologic operations in the Iranian pediatric population. Methods: This retrospective study was performed in a referral hospital. The data of target patients over the period of March 21, 2018, to November 22, 2021, were collected. The number of surgeries at the period of any peak plus before and during the COVID-19 pandemic was compared. Results: A total of 6 290 patients from the Health Information System of Amir A’lam hospital, Tehran, Iran, were enrolled. In this study, 52.9% and 46.5% of the patients were male and female, respectively. There were 3 main types of surgeries, such as adenoidectomy, tonsillectomy, and ear surgeries, with mean ± standard deviation (SD) age of 10.20 ± 9.4, 11.45 ± 10.8, and 44.19 ± 14.6 years, respectively. There was a significant difference in terms of the total number of operations between before (n = 5070) and during the COVID-19 pandemic (n = 1220) (P 0.001). The amount of this difference was much greater in tonsillectomy (n = 3736 vs. n = 546) and adenoidectomy (n = 134 vs. n = 21) than in ear surgeries (n = 1200 vs. n = 653). Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic significantly reduced the number of most common otolaryngologic surgeries in the Iranian pediatric population. The reason is that the restrictions during the pandemic might have a potential effect on reducing the transmission of tonsil-adenoid gland infection.