Self-Reported Complications after Tonsillectomy: Comparison of Responders and Nonresponders to a Mailed Questionnaire

Table 1

Participant gender, mail response rates, and complication rates by age group.

Characteristic/measure	Total sample (n = 818)	Pediatric sample (n = 489)	Adult sample (n = 329)	Value
Gender				<0.001
Male	378 (46.2%)	257 (52.6%)	121 (36.8%)
Female	440 (53.8%)	232 (47.4%)	208 (63.2%)
Mail response				<0.001
Responder	542 (66.3%)	349 (71.4%)	193 (58.7%)
Nonresponder	276 (33.7%)	140 (28.6%)	136 (41.3%)
	(n = 783)	(n = 467)	(n = 316)
Any HCP contact	209 (26.7%)	88 (18.8%)	121 (38.3%)	<0.001
PP contact	151 (19.9%)	66 (14.1%)	85 (26.9%)	<0.001
Readmission	58 (7.4%)	22 (4.7%)	36 (11.4%)	<0.001

HCP = health care provider (including either private practitioner or hospital readmission); PP = private practitioner. Contact with a HCP was used as a proxy measure for overall complication rates. These sample sizes reflect the 95.7% of parents/patients who completed either the mailed questionnaire or telephone interview.