Middle-ear disease in remote Aboriginal Australia: a field assessment of surgical outcomes.
Chronic middle-ear disease is highly prevalent among Australian Aboriginal people, and many undergo surgical treatment. However, the outcomes of surgery in this group have not been fully evaluated. This is a descriptive study of operations for middle-ear disease (excluding grommets) on Aboriginal patients in Kimberley hospitals between 1 October 1986 and 31 December 1995. Logistic regression was used to model predictors of surgical outcome. Success was defined by an intact tympanic membrane and air-bone gap of < or = 25 dB at review at, or later than, six months post-operation. A success rate of 53 per cent was observed; increasing age was the only variable predictive of success. Successful outcomes were more likely in adults and children aged > 10 years, however, this does not take into account the necessity of hearing for language acquisition and learning. Dedicated resources must be allocated for post-operative follow-up of Aboriginal patients so that much-needed, rigorous evaluations of ENT surgery can be conducted.
Mak
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Kimberley Public Health Unit, Derby, Australia. donna.mak@health.wa.gov.au
MacKendrick
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Weeks
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Plant
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D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004427:Ear Diseases / Q000601:surgery; D004432:Ear, Middle / Q000601:surgery*; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009225:Myringoplasty / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010033:Otitis Media / Q000601:surgery*; D011182:Postoperative Care; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014904:Western Australia