The pattern of paediatric otorhinolaryngological disorders seen at the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital, South-south Nigeria: a 3-year review

INTRODUCTION: otolaryngological disorders vary among children due to diverse underlying aetiologies and pathologic processes.This study audits the pattern of paediatric ear, nose and throat diseases seen at the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital. METHODS: a cross-sectional retrospective review of medical records of children (aged 0 - 17 years) seen between 1(st) January 2018 and 31(st) December 2020 were retrieved and analysed using IBM SPSS version 25.0. Results were presented as frequencies and percentages for categorical variables and mean and standard deviation for continuous variables. RESULTS: a total of 5,533 paediatric visits were documented over the study period, making up 36.7% of all patients seen. There were 2,516 completed paediatric medical records. Males slightly predominated, accounting for 1,369 (54.5%), mean age was 6.77 years (SD ± 5.10) and ranged 2 weeks to 17 years. Age groups 0-4 years were the most affected. Ear disorders were the commonest disorders found (1637, 65.1%), followed by throat/neck disorders (650, 25.8%) and then nose disorders (229, 9.1%). The top 2 disorders based on regions were as follows: Cerumen Auris (426, 16.9%) and Otitis Externa (252, 10.2%) for ear disorders; Chronic / Allergic rhinosinusitis (107, 4.3%) and foreign body in the nose (72, 2.9%) for nose disorders and Adenotonsillar hypertrophy (544, 21.6%) and speech disorders (23, 0.9%) for throat disorders respectively. CONCLUSION: among the paediatric group of patients, ear disorders predominated. Cerumen Auris, Adenotonsillar hypertrophy and chronic/allergic rhinosinusitis were the commonest ENT disorders.