title: How common is recurrent acute otitis media?
abstract: To illustrate how the number of children with recurrent acute otitis media (RAOM) and the natural history of this condition vary according to the criterion used, different criteria were tested in a random sample of 2,411 children monitored for otitis media up to an average age of 22 months. The numbers of children fulfilling the criteria of at least 2, 3 and 4 episodes in 6 months were calculated and the natural history of otitis media during the following 6 months was examined among the children who had had a sufficient follow-up time and who had received no special prophylaxis. At least 2, 3 or 4 episodes in 6 months were experienced by 825 (34%), 375 (15%) and 118 (5%) children, respectively. During the 6 subsequent months after contracting the second, third or fourth episode, 5, 4 and 5% of the infants developed chronic otitis media with effusion and an additional 10, 12 and 7% respectively, continued to have recurrent episodes without any special prophylaxis. In all, the proportion of children with recurrent episodes varied according to the criterion used. RAOM seemed to be a temporal phenomenon, however, and spontaneous recovery without any special prophylaxis was common with increasing age irrespective of the criterion used.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, University of Oulu, Finland.
authors.forename: O P
authors.initials: OP
authors.lastname: Alho
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D010033:Otitis Media / Q000453:epidemiology*; D010034:Otitis Media with Effusion / Q000453:epidemiology; D011897:Random Allocation; D012008:Recurrence; D012494:Sampling Studies; D013997:Time Factors