Clinicoepidemiological profile of ear, nose, throat patients in outpatient clinic of tertiary health care facility in Punjab

Background: This study evaluated the profile of ailments in patients presenting to outpatient clinic of tertiary care hospital of North India that caters to ENT diseases in population of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.Methods: A retrospective study was undertaken by analysing the medical records of patients managed at the department of otorhinolaryngology and head and neck surgery at the tertiary care hospital, Punjab from Jan 2018 to Dec 2018 and all essential data was collected.Results: Total no. of patients presenting to the ENT OPD during the period of assesment were 32,475. 49.30% were males and 50.70 % were females, respectively. 29.70% were children below 15 years. The number of patients presenting per month were 2706, with maximum no. of patients presenting in the month of August to November. Patients with ear diseases were 9280 (28.57%), Nose diseases were 11963 (36.83%), and throat diseases were 11232 (34.58%).Conclusions: This study showed that awareness of ENT ailments and visits for specialised treatment is on the rise rather than primary level treatment at local or general medicine or family physician level.