Results
The covid-19 pandemic cohort tended to present later after onset of
symptoms (5.96 days vs 3.25 days, p = 0.0277), have abscess
formation rather than inflammation only (77.8% vs 34.6%, p< 0.01), and develop complications (33.3% vs 7.7%, p= 0.0394). Not reaching statistical significance, the covid-19 pandemic
cohort also had larger volume abscess (25.18cm3 vs
14.5cm3, p = 0.291), longer hospital stay
(14.48 days vs 6.35 days, p = 0.114), and longer intensive care
stay (7.88 days vs 1.78 days, p = 0.0992). Non-significant
changes were noted in management, with the covid-19 pandemic cohort
being seven times more likely to undergo tracheostomy (25.9% vs 3.8%,p = 0.0504), and more likely to undergo transcervical drainage
(37% vs 19.2%, p = 0.224) and hot tonsillectomy (11.1% vs 0%,p = 0.236).