Tonsil surgery, adults

• There is considerable geographical variation in tonsil surgeries (tonsil operations)
• Rates were increasing up until the pandemic, declined during/after the pandemic, and have now returned to pre-pandemic levels
• Around two out of three operations are performed on women

In 2024, nearly 5,600 tonsil surgeries were performed on patients aged 16 and over. The number of operations per year had been increasing in the period before the pandemic, peaking in 2019 with almost 6,000 procedures. The lowest numbers were recorded in 2021 and 2022, with just under 4,600 operations. In 2024, the figure has returned to pre-pandemic levels.

There is considerable geographical variation in surgery rates. The catchment areas with the highest rates perform around twice as many tonsil surgeries per 1,000 inhabitants compared with those with the lowest rates. In 2024, the rate ranged from 0.88 operations per 1,000 inhabitants in Telemark to 1.95 in the UNN catchment area.

64% of the surgeries are performed on women. In 2024, the average age of female patients is around two years lower (just under 26 years) than that of male patients (28 years).

The analysis includes tonsillectomy and tonsillotomy procedures. The number of tonsillotomy operations is low, comprising just under 150 procedures in 2024. Nearly 40% of these were for patients in the Østfold catchment area.

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.

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.

All of the data used in the charts for this analysis can be downloaded as a CSV file.