Association between the incidence of peritonsillar abscesses and meteorological parameters

Peritonsillar abscess is one of the most common deep head and neck infections. It’s considered as a complication of an acute tonsillitis. Diagnosis of the disease, especially in young adults, is based on the clinical presentation. Symptoms include odynophagia, dysphagia, trismus, a dysplastic language and hypersalivation. Timely detection of infection and initiation of therapy is important to avoid potentially serious complications, such as airway obstruction, aspiration, cervical abscess and mediastinitis.

Rapidly changing weather conditions are considered to facilitate the formation of an abscess. Previous published studies have shown controversial results for a possible association between the formation of the peritonsillar abscesses and climatic conditions. The aim of the present descriptive, retrospective study is to analyse a possible influence between the incidence of peritonsillar abscesses and meteorological parameters in a defined cohort. It examines day- and month-specific temperature fluctuations, air pressure and humidity in relation to the initial date of presentation. Similarly, the latency, which requires an abscess to emerge, with a time window of up to five days must to be aligned. The examined sample comprised 640 patients, who presented at a tertiary medical center between January 2014 and December 2018.

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Publication History

Article published online:
10 June 2020