title: A pilot study of the ability of the forced response test to discriminate between 3-year-old children with chronic otitis media with effusion or with recurrent acute otitis media.
abstract: CONCLUSIONS
  When used to test 3-year-old children within 3 months of tympanostomy tube placement for recurrent acute otitis media (rAOM) or chronic otitis media with effusion (cOME) the forced response test (FRT) showed relatively minor differences in the active and passive functions of the eustachian tube. While the sample size was small, the high variability in all test parameters suggests that the FRT alone is not capable of distinguishing between children with different expressions of otitis media.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The FRT was designed to measure the passive and active properties of the eustachian tube. We evaluated the ability of that test to discriminate groups of children with rAOM or cOME.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-two ears (15 children) with a confirmed history of rAOM and 24 ears (17 children) with a confirmed history of cOME were tested at 3 years of age within 3 months of ventilation tube placement. The parameters of the FRT were compared between these groups using a two-tailed Student's t test and the frequencies of ears evidencing eustachian tube dilation with swallowing were compared between groups using a χ(2) test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Passive resistance and one measure of active function were significantly higher in the rAOM group. The frequency of tubal dilation was not significantly different between groups. There were no differences in any of the FRT measures between cOME ears that did and did not have acute otitis media by history.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pediatric Otolaryngology, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15224, USA.
authors.forename: Margaretha L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Casselbrant
authors.forename: Ellen M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Mandel
authors.forename: James T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Seroky
authors.forename: J Douglas
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Swarts
authors.forename: William J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Doyle
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D003939:Diagnostic Techniques, Otological; D005064:Eustachian Tube / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008876:Middle Ear Ventilation; D010034:Otitis Media with Effusion / Q000175:diagnosis*; D010865:Pilot Projects