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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.
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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

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