2.5: Data Dive- Tonsillectomy Trends

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Page ID: 46645

Melissa Ha and Rachel Schleiger
Yuba College & Butte College via ASCCC Open Educational Resources Initiative

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Overview:

Tonsils (specifically the palatine tonsils) are a pair of soft tissue masses that vary in size from person to person, located adjacent to the throat (pharynx). Tonsils are part of the lymphatic organ system, which aids in fighting infections alongside the immune system. Like lymph nodes, tonsils can swell in response to infection. In the height of its popularity in the 1930's, tonsillectomies were viewed essential by the medical community because swelling was viewed as a result of disease rather than a physiological response to infection. Between the 1940's and 1970's evidence began accumulating that there was a correlation between tonsillectomies and contracting bulbar poliomyelitis (aka polio). In the 1970's, evidence then started accumulating that tonsillectomies didn’t significantly decrease contracting sore throats and other throat infections as originally thought. As such, tonsillectomy rates have declined as scientific method based research guided the medical community to enforce stricter policies on when the procedure is appropriate. Figure 1.2.5.a below is indicates tonsillectomy rates in Scotland for 20+ years:

Line graph illustrating tonsillectomy and tonsillitis rates in Scotland over the years. — Figure \(\PageIndex{a}\) Scotland tonsillectomy and tonsillitis trends from 1993 to 2016. Graph created by Rachel Schleiger (CC-BY-NC) modified from data in Douglas CM, Altmyer U, Cottom L, Young D, Redding P, and Clark LJ. 2019.

Questions:

What kind of graph is this?
What is the independent (explanatory) variable and the dependent (response) variable?
What question(s) are the authors trying to answer with this graph?
Describe the trend you see for tonsillectomies and tonsillitis from 1993 to 2016.
In 1998 new policies were put in place restricting when a tonsillectomy could take place. How did this affect the trends after 1998?
What does the results of this graph make you curious about?

Raw Data For Above Graph(s)

Table \(\PageIndex{a}\) Raw data for Scotland tonsillectomy and tonsillitis trends from 1993 to 2016. Graph created by Rachel Schleiger (CC-BY-NC) modified from data in Douglas CM, Altmyer U, Cottom L, Young D, Redding P, and Clark LJ. 2019.

Years	Tonsillectomy Count	Tonsillitis Count
1993/1994	185	63
1994/1995	175	65
1995/1996	170	80
1996/1997	168	100
1997/1998	165	125
1998/1999	155	125
1999/2000	120	115
2000/2001	90	100
2001/2002	70	88
2002/2003	100	120
2003/2004	85	110
2004/2005	90	115
2005/2006	98	135
2006/2007	90	135
2007/2008	93	148
2008/2009	90	135
2009/2010	90	130
2010/2011	90	128
2011/2012	85	128
2012/2013	95	135
2013/2014	93	135
2014/2015	87	150
2015/2016	86	153

Attribution:

Rachel Schleiger (CC-BY-NC)