One hundred and nine patients with primary antibody deficiencies were selected in order to determine the frequency of ENT complications.

Demographic information and ENT medical histories were collected for each patient. Duration of study for each patient was divided into two periods of before diagnosis and after diagnosis and the initiation of treatment.

Eighty-two of 109 patients (75.2 per cent) experienced ENT infections during the course of the disease (63: otitis media, 75: sinusitis and nine: mastoiditis). At the time of diagnosis, 52 (47.7 per cent) out of 109 patients presented with an ENT symptom. The frequencies of episodes were 27 for sinusitis and 25 for otitis media (one complicated with mastoiditis). After immunoglobulin replacement therapy the incidence of otitis media was reduced from 1.75 before treatment to 0.39 after treatment per patient per year (p = 0.008). The incidence of sinusitis also significantly decreased from 2.38 to 0.78 (p value = 0.011).

ENT infections are common medical problems in primary antibody deficiency patients. Persistent and recurrent ENT infections should be suspected as originating from a possible underlying immunodeficiency.