Motivos de consulta de pacientes atendidos en un servicio de ORL en un hospital de segundo nivel

Introduction and objective: Otolaryngology disorders can cause a wide variety of symptoms. In the present study, we describe the chief complaint and the epidemiological features of patients who attend a general ear, nose and throat consultation in a secondary level hospital. Method: This is a cross-sectional study that includes all patients who came for the first time to a general ENT consultation in the Hospital Costa del Sol (Marbella, Spain) from November 2013 to December 2014. Chief complaint, age and sex were recorded. Results: One thousand three hundred and thirty-three patients were included, 54.4% were women and 45.6% were men. Mean age was 45.4 ± 23.9 years. A bimodal distribution with peaks in the group of age 40-60 years and in the first decade of life was observed. Out of the study subjects, 54% referred ear-related symptoms, 29% had pharyngolaryngeal or neck related symptoms, and 17.5% nose related symptoms. Globally, the most frequent symptom was hearing loss, followed by nasal obstruction and dizziness. Conclusions: We observe that the study population covers all range of age and consists mainly of women. Although the chief complain were diverse, 75% of the patients referred one of the ten most frequent symptoms. The most frequent symptoms were related to ear problems.