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Causes of glue ear

An historical review of theories and evidence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 June 2007

N. Black
N. Black*
Affiliation:
Oxford
*
Manor House, Headley Way, Headington, Oxford OX3 9DZ.
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Summary

Over the past one hundred years medical views on the cause of glue ear have frequently changed. The medical literature was reviewed to see if these changes reflected advances in the level of scientific support for different causes. This revealed that only a few of the many proposed causes command any scientific support. An explanation for the changing pattern of views on the aetiology of glue ear was therefore sought by considering secular changes in medical knowledge and belief in general. This suggested that the views held on the cause of glue ear at any given time are influenced and largely determined by the prevailing knowledge and beliefs of medicine as a whole. This phenomenon is not peculiar to glue ear—though conditions about which there is considerable uncertainty are probably more susceptible to such influences.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Laryngology & Otology , Volume 99 , Issue 10 , October 1985 , pp. 953 - 966
Copyright
Copyright © JLO (1984) Limited 1985

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