Comparing the outcome of two surgical treatments for snoring using a patient-orientated measure of benefit.

Many different surgical techniques are currently used to treat simple snoring and their outcomes are difficult to compare. We used the Glasgow Benefit Inventory (GBI) to examine the outcome of two different surgical procedures. Thirty patients had been treated by uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP) and fifty-six by laser palatoplasty. The GBI scores showed close agreement with other subjective outcome measures. The two groups gave similar scores at 15 months postoperatively, and there was no deterioration in score with time. The GBI could be used to evaluate new surgical techniques for snoring, and could be useful in research and audit in this field.