Quality of life outcomes after ventilating tube insertion for otitis media in an Australian population.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the change in quality of life in a group of Australian children with recurrent acute otitis media (AOM) and/or otitis media with effusion (OME) who were treated with ventilating tube (VT) insertion.


METHODS
Prospective pre- and post-intervention outcome study at the Women's and Children's Hospital, North Adelaide, South Australia. The Otitis Media 6-item (OM-6) survey was used as a measure of disease-specific quality of life prior to surgery and then again at 6 weeks post-operatively. Any patients who were listed for any additional ear, nose or throat (ENT) procedures at the same time were excluded.


RESULTS
Complete responses for both pre- and post-surgery questionnaires were obtained from the parents of 53 patients. The age range was 11 months to 15.4 years (average 5.1 years), and 39.6% (n=21) were suffering from recurrent AOM whilst the remaining 60.4% (n=32) were suffering from OME. Overall ear-related quality of life was found to improve significantly following insertion of ventilating tubes (p<0.001), as was the mean OM-6 score (p<0.001). Furthermore, statistically significant improvements were noted in each individual domain making up the OM-6 survey (physical suffering, hearing loss, speech impairment, emotional distress, activity limitations and caregiver concerns).


CONCLUSIONS
The disease-specific quality of life of a group of Australian pediatric patients with otitis media was found to significantly improve following insertion of ventilating tubes as measured by the OM-6 survey. Improvements were found in global ear-related quality of life, in the mean OM-6 score, as well as in all individual domains of the OM-6 survey.
Chow
Yan
Y
Department of Paediatric Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Women's and Children's Hospital, North Adelaide, SA, Australia.
Wabnitz
David A M
DA
Ling
John
J
D000293:Adolescent; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008876:Middle Ear Ventilation / Q000379:methods*; D010033:Otitis Media / Q000601:surgery*; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires