Scholarly Article
CLINICAL SPECTRUM, MANAGEMENT PATTERNS, AND OUTCOMES OF COMMON OTORHINOLARYNGOLOGICAL DISORDERS AT A RURAL TERTIARY CARE TEACHING HOSPITAL: A PROSPECTIVE OBSERVATIONAL STUDY
Raju Naik Ajmeera, Giriboyina Sneharshitha, Nitya Goddanti
2026-07-28 · International Journal of Clinical and Biomedical Research · Sumathi Publications
Abstract
Background: Common ear, nose, and throat disorders contribute substantially to outpatient morbidity. Evidence describing the case mix, management workload, and short-term outcomes of broad ENT services in rural teaching hospitals remains limited. Objective: To describe the demographic and clinical spectrum of common otorhinolaryngological disorders, investigations performed, surgical workload, disease severity, patient satisfaction, and three-month outcomes at a rural tertiary care teaching hospital. Methods: This prospective observational study included 658 patients with common ENT disorders who completed three months of follow-up. Patients were grouped as having ear, nose/paranasal sinus, or throat/ laryngopharyngeal disorders. Clinical diagnoses, selected investigation findings, treatment modality, surgical procedures, baseline severity category, three-month satisfaction, and categorical clinical outcomes were recorded. The analysis was descriptive and used frequencies and percentages. Results: The cohort included 198 patients with ear disorders (30.1%), 248 with nasal disorders (37.7%), and 212 with throat disorders (32.2%). Participants aged 21-40 years constituted 37.7%, 55.0% were male, and 74.8% were rural residents. Chronic suppurative otitis media was the most frequent ear diagnosis (62/198, 31.3%), allergic rhinitis the most frequent nasal diagnosis (76/248, 30.6%), and chronic tonsillitis the most frequent throat diagnosis (72/212, 34.0%). Among selected patients investigated, positivity ranged from 74.4% for plain radiography of the paranasal sinuses to 95.2% for histopathology. Surgery was performed in 196 patients (29.8%); septoplasty (23.5% of operations) and tonsillectomy (21.4%) were most frequent. At three months, 564 patients (85.7%) were satisfied or very satisfied. Complete recovery or significant improvement was recorded in 604 patients (91.8%). Conclusion: Inflammatory and infective disorders dominated this rural hospital ENT caseload. Most patients were managed without surgery, while septoplasty and tonsillectomy accounted for the largest operative workload. Short-term categorical outcomes and satisfaction were favourable among follow-up completers; however, the heterogeneous diagnoses, absence of disease-specific change scores, and exclusion of patients lost to follow-up limit causal interpretation and comparison with other centres.
Keywords
Otorhinolaryngology, Rural health services, Disease spectrum, Septoplasty, Tonsillectomy, Patient satisfaction
Citation Details
International Journal of Clinical and Biomedical Research, Vol. 11, No. 3, pp. 170-177