Online medical consults are not enough to diagnose tonsillitis, according to a study published in the journal Infectious Diseases. The authors emphasise that this method is unreliable and increases the chances that patients don’t get the proper treatment for a sore throat.
Tonsillitis is a common reason people visit their doctor. To determine if patients would benefit from antibiotics, doctors follow the Centor Criteria for Tonsillitis. The criteria include fever, tender and swollen lymph nodes in the angles of the jaw, and inspection of the tonsils. However, it’s unclear how well these criteria transfer to digital consultations instead of traditional in-person consultations.
To address this issue, a team from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, assessed 189 patients who needed medical care in the region of Västra Götaland between January 2020 and October 2023.
To compare the two systems, each patient underwent two assessments: a digital medical assessment via video with one doctor and a physical examination conducted by another doctor. The results show that digital healthcare consultations are not enough to assess some of the most important criteria, including tonsil inspection and lymph node examination, which should be done in person.
“Our study shows that although digital healthcare consultations are convenient for many patients, they are not reliable enough to assess tonsillitis. To ensure a correct diagnosis and treatment, it is still important to conduct a physical examination,” said Patrycja Woldan-Gradalska, a PhD student at Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg and a Resident Physician at Sätila Healthcare Clinic.
Woldan-Gradalska, P., Gradalski, W., Moradi, S., Franzelius, M. Et al (2024). Inter-rater reliability of Centor score assessments between telemedicine and in-person examinations in patients with an acute sore throat. Infectious Diseases, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1080/23744235.2024.2434878