Introduction and objective:

Pharyngotonsillar infections and their complications are very frequent, and their epidemiological characteristics vary from one country to another. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence, age, gender and seasonality of patients admitted with tonsillitis (T), peritonsillar abscess (PT) and parapharyngeal abscess (PPA) in a tertiary hospital in Valladolid (Spain).

Method:

Retrospective study of 1339 patients admitted to HCUV between 2000 and 2021 for pharyngo-cervical infections (A, PA and PPA).

Results:

The mean age of patients admitted with A was 27.8 years, 35.5 years with PA and 47 years with PPA, this difference being statistically significant (p<0.001). Tonsillitis predominates in women (ratio: 1.26), and in men PA (ratio: 1.44) and PPA (ratio: 2.4). We found no significant relationship between the frecuency of these processes and the months of the year or climatic seasons.

Discussion:

The differences in gender, mean age and seasonality between A and PA generate controversy in order to understand the origin of PA and the possible influence of risk factors. There are few epidemiological studies published on PPA, whose incidence seems to be increasing, for unknown causes.

Conclusions:

A tends out in childhood, PA in young adults and PPA in older patients. Except for A and PPA in adolescents, which predominate in women, the rest of the pharyngo-cervical abscesses are more frequent in men. In the population studied, climate does not seem to be an important etiopathogenic factor.

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