Tonsil surgery – contacts per 1,000 inhabitants, 16 years and older
Discussion
In 2025, nearly 5,300 tonsil procedures were performed on patients aged 16 years and older. Looking at the period from 2015 to 2025 as a whole, there was no marked change in the total number of procedures over time. However, there were fairly large variations between individual years. The same pattern was also seen for the rate per 1,000 inhabitants.
There was some geographical variation in the rates. Across the Regional Health Authority (RHA) catchment areas, the rate ranged from 1.1 operations per 1,000 inhabitants in Helse Sør-Øst and Helse Vest to 1.5 in Helse Nord.
Throughout the entire period from 2015 to 2025, the proportion of procedures performed on women remained around 64%.
In 2025, 32% received treatment from private providers. This proportion varied from 18% in Helse Sør-Øst to 51% in the Helse Vest catchment area.
The analysis includes both tonsillectomy and tonsillotomy. The number of tonsillotomies was low, comprising 180 procedures in 2025.
There is partially incomplete reporting from contracted specialists during the period. This particularly affects the Bergen catchment area from 2023 to 2025.
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 16 years or older 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, or K02g with a specialist
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.