Does otitis media in early childhood affect reading performance in later school years?
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate reading performance in children with recurrent otitis media during childhood once middle-ear diseases have resolved and the children grew older.


METHODS
Seventy-five children with middle-ear problems during childhood and poor reading performance in first grades and 60 healthy controls free of middle ear diseases were enrolled in the study. All children underwent an otologic and audiologic evaluation followed by reading tests.


RESULTS
Reading performance was not affected once otitis media had been cured and hearing restored; reading scores of the healed children were almost the same as those of the otitis-free children (3.39% and 3.1%, respectively). Children who still suffer from middle-ear problems and hearing loss had an average percentage of reading mistakes of 7.3%.


CONCLUSIONS
Once children are cured from their middle-ear diseases and hearing is restored, previously noted reading impairments are no longer evident. Reading is still impaired among children who continue to suffer from middle-ear problems and hearing loss even when they grow older.


METHODS
B-2b.
Golz
Avishay
A
Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Rambam Medical Center and The Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, The Technion, Haifa, Israel. golz@netvision.net.il
Westerman
S Thomas
ST
Westerman
Liane M
LM
Gilbert
David A
DA
Netzer
Aviram
A
D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D004410:Dyslexia / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000150:complications / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010033:Otitis Media / Q000150:complications*; D012008:Recurrence; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis