The Impact of Surgical Indication on Posttonsillectomy Hemorrhage: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the impact of the surgical indication on posttonsillectomy bleed rates. DATA SOURCES: PubMed, Scopus, CINAHL. REVIEW METHODS: A systematic review was performed searching for articles published from the date of inception to July 6, 2022. English language articles describing posttonsillectomy hemorrhage rates in pediatric patients (age </= 18) stratified by indication were selected for inclusion. A meta-analysis of proportions with comparison (Delta) of weighted proportions was conducted. All studies were assessed for risk of bias. RESULTS: A total of 72 articles with 173,970 patients were selected for inclusion. The most common indications were chronic/recurrent tonsillitis (CT/RT), obstructive sleep apnea/sleep-disordered breathing (OSA/SDB), and adenotonsillar hypertrophy (ATH). Posttonsillectomy hemorrhage rates for CT/RT, OSA/SDB, and ATH were 3.57%, 3.69%, and 2.72%, respectively. Patients operated on for a combination of CT/RT and OSA/SDB had a bleed rate of 5.99% which was significantly higher than those operated on for CT/RT alone (Delta2.42%, p = .0006), OSA/SDB alone (Delta2.30%, p = .0016), and ATH alone (Delta3.27%, p < .0001). Additionally, those operated on for a combination of ATH and CT/RT had a hemorrhage rate of 6.93%, significantly higher than those operated on for CT/RT alone (Delta3.36%, p = .0003), OSA/SDB alone (Delta3.01%, p = .0014), and ATH alone (Delta3.98%, p < .0001). CONCLUSION: Patients operated on for multiple indications had significantly higher rates of posttonsillectomy hemorrhage than those operated on for a single surgical indication. Better documentation of patients with multiple indications would help further characterize the magnitude of the compounding effect described here.