Incidence of Mortality and Its Relation to Comorbidity in Ludwig's Angina: A Retrospective Study

Ludwig's angina is a serious life-threatening infective condition of maxillofacial region due to odontogenic origin which is clinically diagnosed by its clinical signs and symptoms. Airway management and early surgical decompression is the main stay of management. The mortality rates in Ludwig's angina remains multivariate. There is a paucity in literature regarding the mortality rates of this disease.

Aim of this retrospective study is to describes the characteristics, probable cause of death and mortality rates of patients with co-morbidities presenting to the emergency department (ED) who were subsequently admitted with a primary diagnosis of Ludwig's angina.

Study was conducted in the department of maxillofacial surgery in a tertiary care teaching hospital from Jan 2011 to Dec 2022. Data of 17 patients who were clinically diagnosed as Ludwig's angina were included in the study. The comorbidity, source of odontongenic cause, mode of intubation and the outcome of the disease were evaluated.

Comparison of categorical variables was done using Fishers exact test. A p-value of <0.7 was considered statistically significant. The results suggested that Out of 17 patients 12 patients (70.5%), 7 male and 5 females had comorbidities and four cases (23.5%) had complication of death, all having co-morbidities.

It concludes that associated comorbidity has a significant role in progress and outcome of the disease and incidence of death is more common in cases having associated comorbidity.