The natural history of otitis media with effusion – a three-year study of the incidence and prevalence of abnormal tympanograms in four South West Hampshire Infant and First schools

Abstract

Otitis media with effusion (OME) is both extremely common in young children, and variable in its duration and severity. This study aims to gather and consider new and reliable information about the incidence and prevalence of OME in British school children.Eight hundred and fifty-six school children aged five to eight years from four South West Hampshire schools were examined over a three-year period by tympanometry, a method used to detect OME (>90 per cent specificity and sensitivity) performed once per school term. Normal ears were recorded in 54.9 per cent of children throughout with 27 per cent recording evidence of effusion. However in only one out of 10 of the affected children did the fluid persist for a year or more. This impressive clearance is due in part to natural resolution, with the intervention of surgery occurring in about one in eight of the children with identified effusions.OME is more common in five-year-olds with an annual prevalence of 17 per cent compared to six per cent in eight-year-olds and is more common in the winter months. Because of the variability of the condition at least two screenings are recommended as a basis for good management.

Complications and management of otitis media in children

“…Out of 62 patients, 38.7% patients were below 5 years age, 45.16% patients were 5-10 years age group while 4.83% patients were 10-15 years and 11.29% patients were belongs to above 15 years age. Similar results were reported by Kouwen et al and Williamson et al 6,10 The symptoms differ with the age of the most frequent presentation is hearing loss which fluctuates in severity particularly in relation to seasonal change and the presence or absence of infection. 6,11 In our study 45.16% of the patients presented with blockage of ears, 27.4% with irritation in ears, otalgia was observed in 14.5% patients.…”

Effect of nasal balloon autoinflation in children with otitis media with effusion in primary care: an open randomized controlled trial

“…Effects were consistent across individual OMQ-14 items (Appendix 3, available at www.cmaj.ca/lookup/ suppl/doi:10.1503/cmaj.141608/-/DC1). Overall, children in the autoinflation arm had fewer days with any symptom or problem than children in the control arm at 1 month (median [interquartile range] 8 [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] v. 22 d; OR 0.58, 95% CI 0.37 to 0.90) ( Table 3).…”

“…It is often associated with viral infection. [1][2][3] The prevalence rises to 46% in children aged 4-5 years, 4 when hearing difficulty, other ear-related symptoms and broader developmental concerns often bring the condition to medical attention. 3,5,6 Middle-ear fluid is associated with conductive hearing losses of about 15-45 dB HL.…”

Prevalence of Hearing Loss among First Grade School Children in Tirana,Albania – A Repeated Cross-Sectional Survey

“…However, routine screening for OME is not recommended because the evidence of more benefits from early detection is lacking [24]. The low prevalence of Otitis Media with Effusion in our study and other studies is due to the different aims of each study: we aimed to detect the hearing impairment and selected only children who showed such signs on tonal audiometry whereas other studies physically examined all children for signs of Otitis Media with Effusion and thus reported much higher prevalence [23]. Otitis Media with Effusion often accompanies conductive hearing loss [25] and if the disease persists then the child could exhibit adverse school or developmental effects [26][27][28].…”

“…Furthermore, in up to 40% of cases this condition might become recurrent and in 10% of cases it lasts longer than 1 year [22] thus increasing the risk of hearing loss if untreated. A study found that 1 in 4 school children aged 7 years had some degree of Otitis Media with Effusion [23]. However, routine screening for OME is not recommended because the evidence of more benefits from early detection is lacking [24].…”