4. Reporting of short‐term pain (24 hours).
| Study | Scale used* | Person reporting | Data reported | Meta‐analysis? | Results | |
| Beriat 2013 | Modified Hannallah Pain Score (MHPS) | Anaesthesiologist | Mean and SD | N | Pain scores lower in tonsillotomy group at 2 hours (mean 0.51, SD 0.93) than tonsillectomy group (mean 1.34, SD 1.18), P < 0.0005 | |
| 10‐point VAS | Staff | Mean graphically | N | Pain scores lower in tonsillotomy group at 22 hours than tonsillectomy group, P < 0.0005 | ||
| Chang 2005 | Wong‐Baker FACES 10‐point VAS | Child | Mean and SD graphically | N | Pain scores lower in tonsillotomy group (mean 2.5, SD 2.5) than tonsillectomy group (mean 4.6, SD 3.3), P < 0.005 | |
| Parent | Mean and SD graphically | Y | See Analysis 1.20 | |||
| Chang 2008 | Wong‐Baker FACES 10‐point VAS | Child | Mean only | N | No evidence of a difference in pain scores between the groups (mean score of 2.8 in both groups) | |
| Parent | Mean and SD graphically | Y | See Analysis 1.20 | |||
| Densert 2001 | 5‐point VAS | Child | Mean rank. Did not report the number of children randomised to each arm | N | "statistically significant reduction in pain after tonsillotomy compared to tonsillectomy" | Mean rank 11.0 versus 17.3, P = 0.03 |
| Parent | Mean rank 11.1 versus 17.1, P = 0.046 | |||||
| Staff | Mean rank 10.7 versus 18.0, P = 0.015 | |||||
| Derkay 2006 | Wong‐Baker FACES 10‐point VAS | Parent | Median and IQR | N | Median pain score 3 (IQR 2 to 4) in both groups | |
| Ericsson 2009 | 5‐point VAS | Parent | Median and IQR graphically (data not normally distributed) | N | The median pain score was lower in children who had undergone tonsillotomy compared to tonsillectomy; 2 (IQR 2 to 3) versus 3 (IQR 3 to 4), P < 0.01 | |
| Hultcrantz 1999 | 10‐point VAS | Child | Distribution of hourly scores graphically | N | "the postoperative mean pain score was significantly lower for the first 24h for the TT children than the TE children" | |
| Hultcrantz 2004 | 6‐point VAS | Child | Hourly distribution of scores graphically | N | "there was a significant difference between the TT and the TE group at 2, 5, and 8 hours after surgery (P < 0.05)" | |
| 7‐point VAS | Parent | No data reported | N | ‐ | ||
| 7‐point VAS | Staff | No data reported | N | ‐ | ||
| Li 2013 | 5‐point VAS | Parent | Mean and SD | Y | See Analysis 1.20 | |
| Park 2007 | Wong Baker FACES 10‐point VAS | Parent | Mean and SD graphically | Y | See Analysis 1.20 | |
| Skoulakis 2007 | 10‐point VAS | Parent | Mean graphically | N | "on average, the pain scores were significantly lower (about 50%) for the tonsillotomy group than for the tonsillectomy group (P < 0.01)" | |
IQR: interquartile range SD: standard deviation TE: tonsillectomy TT: tonsillotomy VAS: visual analogue scale