| dc.description.abstract | This thesis assesses the frequency of tonsil surgery and examines its predictors. Tonsil surgery is a common procedure which carries both advantages and disadvantages. The study begins with a systematic literature review of published articles which address the frequency and predictors of tonsil surgery worldwide. Using the data collected from a survey conducted on 6,363 high school students in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the prevalence and predictors of tonsil surgery in this population are then examined.
In relation to the systematic review, a search strategy and inclusion and exclusion criteria lead to 11 relevant papers that were appraised by two reviewers. Findings suggest that age, geographical region, and race are predictors of tonsil surgery. However, there is conflicting, insufficient, or limited evidence for the association between tonsil surgery and each of sex, household income, parental educational levels, number of siblings, environmental tobacco smoke, asthma, allergies, serum Immunoglobulin E level, high body mass index, middle ear infections, upper respiratory tract infections, Down syndrome, and prematurity.
Using data from the UAE, our case study suggests that tonsil surgery is associated with nationality, maternal educational level, pesticide/insecticide, indoor humidity, and hay fever symptoms. However, after adjusting for potential confounders, findings related to multivariate analysis (binary logistic regression) suggest that nationality is the only predictor of tonsil surgery and that nationals of other Gulf Cooperation Council countries are more likely to undergo tonsil surgery. Additionally, adding interaction terms to the regression model reveals that seafood consumption and pesticide/insecticide exposure have interactions with nationality.
To conclude, this present work proposes age, geographical region of residence, and nationality (race) as predictors of tonsil surgery. However, further studies are needed to reassess other potential predictors with insufficient evidence. Furthermore, since each type of tonsil surgery may have a unique set of predictors, it is important to separately identify the predictors of each type of tonsil surgery. Additionally, there is a need for studies that separately assess and identify the predictors of each indication (a disease treated by the surgery) for tonsil surgery. Comparing the predictors of tonsil surgery with the predictors of indications for tonsil surgery may help to determine the reasons for the disparities in the frequency of tonsil surgery among different populations. | en |
