Tonsillectomy prevalences in South African schoolchildren.

Tonsillectomy prevalences, using questionnaires, were determined on series of school pupils (total number 10,271), aged 16-18 years, in four South African ethnic groups. Prevalence were, approximately: rural Blacks 2%, urban Blacks 3%, Indians 8%, Coloureds (Eur-African-Malay) 9% and Whites 44%. The inter-ethnic profile of differences is similar to the inter-ethnic profiles of other differences (e.g. in appendicectomy prevalences).