Tonsil surgery – contacts per 1,000 children, 0–15 years
Discussion
In 2025, 4,600 tonsil surgeries were performed on children under the age of 16. This is in line with the number before the pandemic, but represents a decrease of approximately 600 operations, or 12%, compared with 2024.
The number of operations per 1,000 inhabitants was highest in Helse Nord, with a rate of 6.5, and lowest in Helse Vest, with a rate of 3.98. When distributed by hospital catchment area, the rates varied considerably. Finnmark had the highest rate at 9.4, while Stavanger had the lowest at 2.85 in 2025.
The proportion of children undergoing partial tonsil removal (tonsillotomy) increased from 8% in 2015 to more than 40% in all years after the pandemic. In 2025, this proportion ranged from around 36% in Helse Nord and Helse Sør-Øst to approximately 57% in Helse Midt-Norge and Helse Vest. According to the Tonsilleregisteret, one reason for the general increase is that hypertrophy is more frequently used as an indication for children, for whom tonsillotomy is considered a safer procedure with fewer postoperative complications.
The proportion of children treated by private providers was 13% in 2025. This proportion ranged from 4% in Helse Vest to 23% in the catchment area of Helse Nord.
There is partial underreporting from contracted specialists during the period. This particularly applies to the Bergen catchment area in 2023.
The analysis is based on data from the Norwegian Patient Registry (NPR) for specialist healthcare services. The data includes activity in public hospitals, publicly funded private hospitals, and specialists in private practice under public funding contacts.
The sample consists of patients aged 0-15 years registered with a primary or secondary diagnosis of J35.0, J35.1, J35.3, J35.8, J35.9, J36, J39.0, J03.0, J03.8, J03.9, or G47.3 in combination with:
- procedure code EMB10, EMB12, EMB15, EMB20, EMB99, or ENC40 in hospitals, or
- fee code K02a, K02e, K02f, K02g with a specialist
Tonsil operations with only the procedure codes EMB12 or EMB15 and at the same time none of the other procedure codes or fee codes are defined as tonsillotomy. All other tonsil operations are defined as tonsillectomy. Tonsillotomies are also performed by specialists, but since the fee codes K02f and K02g are tonsillectomy/tonsillotomy, it is not possible to distinguish between tonsillectomy and tonsillotomy using the fee codes. K02a and K02e are tonsillectomy.
The place of treatment is divided into three categories:
- Local public, treated at one of the hospitals in the catchment area
- Other public, treated at a public hospital outside the catchment area
- Private, treated by a private hospital or a private specialist
In order to compare the catchment areas and between years, the rates have been adjusted for gender and age. The adjustment was done using the direct method with the population in 2023 as the reference population.
In graphs with patient‑aggregated data, the numbers are adjusted to avoid double‑counting patients. The actual number of patients is therefore higher when looking at a single variable for a focus area. For example, patients who have received both private and public treatment during a year are counted only once in total, which means that the number of patients in private treatment will be underreported.
SKDE is solely responsible for the interpretation and presentation of the data provided by NPR. FHI/NPR is not responsible for analyses or interpretations based on the data.