Ear and mastoid process-related hospital admissions in England and Wales: A descriptive ecological study

This was a descriptive ecological study that used publicly accessible data from the Hospital Episode Statistics database in England and the Patient Episode Database for Wales in Wales for the period April 1999 to April 2020 to investigate the trends of hospital admissions due to diseases of the ear and mastoid process. All diagnosis codes for diseases of the ear and mastoid process (H60-H95) were utilized in this study. Hospital admissions rate for ear and mastoid process diseases decreased by 17.2% (from 189.18 [95% confidence interval [CI]: 188.00-190.36] in 1999 to 156.60 [95% CI: 155.60-157.60] in 2020 per 100,000 persons, P ≤ .05). The most common diseases of the ear and mastoid process hospital admissions causes were diseases of the middle ear and mastoid, diseases of the external ear, diseases of the inner ear, and other disorders of the ear, which accounted for 63.7%, 12.1%, 11.7%, and 11.4%, respectively. In England and Wales, the rate of admission for ear and mastoid process diseases has dropped during the last 2 decades. Education campaigns should be maintained to raise knowledge of this category of disorders among parents and the general public, which will eventually lead to a reduction in its associated admission rates.