Introduction: Ludwig's angina (LA) still presents regularly at our tertiary academic hospital. Various etiologies and comorbid diseases are documented worldwide, but the South African population has not been studied.
Aim: To establish whether LA cases presenting to the department are different from international reports regarding etiology and comorbidities.
Settings and design: Retrospective analysis of patients presenting with LA to a tertiary hospital.
Materials and methods: 93 patients were included over a 5-year period. Archived files were analyzed for data including age, gender, comorbid diseases, etiology, airway management, and season on admission.
Statistical analysis: Descriptive statistics with the inclusion of frequency distributions.
Results: 93 patients were included; 65 (69.9%) male and 28 (30.1%) female; age - minimum 20 years, maximum 75 years, mean 40.366.
Etiology: 68 (73.1%) odontogenic, 13 (14%) nonodontogenic, and 12 (12.9%) unknown cause. Comorbid diseases: 21 (22.6%) diabetes mellitus (DM), 19 (20.4%) hypertension, and 18 (19.4%) human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Airway management: 61 (65.6%) tracheostomy and 32 (34.4%) nonsurgical.
Complications: 11 (11.8%) deaths, 8 (8.60%) descending mediastinitis, and 7 (7.53%) necrotizing fasciitis. Seasonal occurrence: 30 (32.3%) spring, 24 (25.8%) winter, 22 (23.7%) summer, and 17 (18.3%) autumn.
Conclusion: A 2.32:1 ratio male: female presentation mirrors previous statistics. DM patients had increased risks of complications, which resulted in multiple deaths. HIV patients showed increased risks for complications with more intense, longer hospital stays, but lower percentages of deaths compared to patients with DM and complications who died. There was no statistically significant finding regarding seasonal tendency.
Keywords: Airway management; Ludwig's angina; comorbid diseases; complications; etiology.