Ten-Year Trends in Otolaryngological Surgery Volumes and the Impact of Infection Prevention During the COVID-19 Pandemic-A National Study.

This register study elucidates the national trends in the otolaryngologic surgery volume in Finland over a ten-year period. In particular, we investigated whether the pandemic, which had a marked effect on communicable diseases, had an impact on infection-related ear, nose, and throat (ENT) procedures. For reference, we used noninfectious ENT procedures. The data of this study consisted of the volumes of different otolaryngological surgical procedures in Finland from 2012 to 2022. A linear regression model was applied to calculate long-term trends in surgery volumes. The annual predicted and observed surgical volumes of each procedure were compared. In addition, different procedures were compared based on whether they were mostly infection-related, non-infection-related, or both. The results revealed that the pandemic altered the trends of many ENT procedures, and during the pandemic, infection-related surgeries declined more than non-infection-related surgeries did. The decline in infection-related surgery volumes seems to have lasted longer than the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic itself, as only tympanostomies and mastoidectomies of all the infection-related procedures included in this study have returned to the pre-pandemic trend. Some non-infection-related procedures and procedures with mixed indications also declined during the pandemic and sustained their reduction even in 2022. This study provides a nationwide insight into ENT surgery volumes in Finland over a ten-year period. Although causative reasoning cannot be conducted based on this study, it still provides a good indication of how the absence of respiratory viruses and multifactorial societal restriction measures could have a long-lasting effect on the epidemiology and management of many ENT diseases.