Epidemiology and trend of pediatric adenoidectomy: a population-based study in Taiwan from 1997 to 2012

To assess population-level data for pediatric adenoidectomy.

Using data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database for the 1997-2012 period, all inpatients <18 years who received adenoidectomies were identified by codes from the International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision.

A total of 20,599 children underwent adenoidectomy (mean age, 7.4 years; 67% boys). The overall incidence rate was 24.5 per 100,000 children. The highest incidence was observed for the ages of 3-5 years in both genders (p < .001). Boys exhibited higher incidence rates than did girls (p < .001). Longitudinal data revealed an increase in the incidence rates from 1997 (14.8/100,000) to 2012 (26.9/100,000) (p trend < .001). The proportion of adenoidectomies performed at medical centers decreased from 60.5 to 46.9%, whereas those performed at regional hospitals increased from 36.4 to 47.2% (all p trend < .001). The proportion of pediatric adenoidectomies performed for sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) increased significantly from 10.1 to 35.6%, whereas those for infections decreased from 32.3 to 8.0% (all p trend < .001).

This study revealed an increasing trend of pediatric inpatient adenoidectomy incidence rates during 1997-2012 in Taiwan. Moreover, surgical indications have shifted from infections to SDB.