Throat Symptoms: The Importance in Peritonsillar Abscess

Objective The incidence of quinsy is rising in the UK for reasons which are unclear. There were >7000 hospital diagnosed episodes last year in England alone. Some suggest a link to the decline in elective tonsillectomy. Our aim was to compare chronic throat symptoms in quinsy patients and controls. Method The validated 16‐item Tonsillectomy Outcome Inventory (TOI‐16) was used to compare the impact of throat symptoms over the previous 6 months in 119 controls (no quinsy history) and 55 contactable (by telephone) quinsy patients (34M, 21F), who had an average experience of 1.4 (range 0‐4) quinsies. Analysis was in SPSS. Results The TOI‐16 Cronbach’s α =. 92, indicating high internal consistency. The mean 6‐month overall throat impact scores in quinsy patients (21.0) were significantly greater than that in volunteers (10.9 P <. 05). The post‐quinsy interval had only modest effect on the overall mean score. Younger people had higher scores in both groups. On item‐by‐item analysis, quinsy patients recorded significantly higher mean reported scores over the previous 6 months for snoring, visits to the doctor, and frequent use of antibiotics (all P <. 001) and halitosis, catarrh, missed social gatherings or events, missed work‐days, and depression due to throat problems (all P <. 05). Conclusion Ongoing throat problems are far more prevalent and severe in quinsy patients than controls, with a clear life impact. In many, quinsy represents an acute episode on a background of chronic throat problems. The optimal acute management—notably the place and timing of tonsillectomy—should take account of this.