Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T04:04:40.619Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 June 2007

I. G. Williamson ,
J. Dunleavey ,
J. Bain  and
D. Robinson
I. G. Williamson*
Affiliation:
Department of Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton.
J. Dunleavey
Affiliation:
Department of Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton.
J. Bain
Affiliation:
Department of Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton.
D. Robinson
Affiliation:
Department of Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton.
*
Dr Ian Williamson, Aldermoor Health Centre Practice, Aldermoor Close, Southampton SO1 6ST.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

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.

Keywords

Otitis media with effusionAcoustic impedance testsChildSchoolsUnited Kingdom
Type
Main Articles
Information
The Journal of Laryngology & Otology , Volume 108 , Issue 11 , November 1994 , pp. 930 - 934
Copyright
Copyright © JLO (1984) Limited 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Black, N. (1985) Glue ear: the new dyslexia? British Medica Journal 290: 1963–1965.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brooks, D. N. (1976) School screening for middle ear effusions. Annals of Otology, Rhinology and Laryngology 85(supp. 25): 223–228.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Casselbrant, M. L., Brostoff, L. M., Catekin, E. I., Flaherty, M. R., Doyle, W. J., Bluestone, C. D., Fria, T. J. (1985) Otitis media with effusion in pre-school children. Laryngoscope 95: 428–436.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chalmers, D., Stewart, I., Silva, P., Mulvena, A. (1989) Otitis media with effusion in children - the Dunedin Study. MacKeith Press, Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford; pp 84–94.Google Scholar
Curley, J. W. A. (1986) Grommet insertion: some basic questions answered. Clinical Otolaryngology 11: 1–4.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
De Melker, R. A. (1992) Diagnostic value of microtympanometry in primary care. British Medical Journal 304: 67–68.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fiellau-Nikolajsen, M., Lous, J. (1979) Prospective tympanometry in 3-year-old children: a study of the spontaneous course of tympanometry types in a non-selected population. Archives of Otolaryngology 105: 461–466.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fiellau-Nikolajsen, M. (1983) Tympanometry and secretory otitis media. Acta Otolaryngologica 394(Suppl.): 1–73.Google ScholarPubMed
Ingvarsson, L., Lundgren, K., Olofsson, E., Wall, S. (1982) Epidemiology of acute otitis media in children. Acta Otolaryngologica 388(Supp.): 1–52.Google ScholarPubMed
Jerger, J. (1970) Clinical experience with impedance audiometry. Archives of Otolaryngology 92: 311–324.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maw, R. (1992) Using tympanometry to detect glue ear in general practice. British Medical Journal 304: 67–68.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moller, M., Tos, M. (1990) Point and period prevalence of otitis media with effusion evaluated by daily tympanometry. Journal of Laryngology and Otology 104: 937–941.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Portoian-Shubaiber, S., Cullinan, T. R. (1984) Middle ear disease assessed by impedance in primary school children in South London. Lancet 1: 1111–1113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pukander, J. (1982) Acute otitis media among rural children in Finland. International Journal of Pediatric Otolaryngology 4: 325–332.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Strachan, D. P., Jarvis, M. J., Feyeraband, C. (1989) Passive smoking, salivary cotinine concentrations and middle ear effusion in seven-year-old children. British Medical Journal 298: 1549–1552.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suehs, O. W. (1952) Secretory otitis media. Laryngoscope 62: 998–1027.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Teele, D. W., Klein. J. O., Rosner, B. A. (1980) Epidemiology of otitis media in children. Annals of Otology, Rhinology and Laryngology 89: 5–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tos, M., Holm-Jensen, S., Sorensen, C. N., Mogensen, C. (1982) Spontaneous course and frequency of secretory otitis in fouryear-old children. Archives Otolaryngology 108: 4–10.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tos, M. (1984) Epidemiology and natural history of secretory otitis. American Journal of Otolaryngology 5: 459–462.Google ScholarPubMed
Zeilhuis, G. A., Rach, G. N., van den Borson, A., van den Broak, P. (1990) The prevalence of otitis media with effusion: a critical review of the literature. Clinical Otolaryngology 15: 283–288.CrossRefGoogle Scholar