Epiglottitis: adult and pediatric comparisons.

All cases of epiglottitis admitted to the three affiliated teaching hospitals of the University of Western Ontario over the ten year period prior to December 1986, were subjected to a retrospective chart review. The findings confirmed the suspicion of the senior authors that adult epiglottitis is almost as frequent an entity as epiglottitis in children. This probably results from an increased awareness of the disease process rather than an actual increase in incidence. Also of note is the bimodal age distribution of 0-8 years in children and 20-40 years in adults. As well, clinical presentation, causative organisms, treatment modalities and complications between adults and pediatric age groups are compared and contrasted.