title: Comparative prevalence of otitis media in children living in urban slums, non-slum urban and rural areas of Delhi.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The study aimed to determine the prevalence and profile of otitis media in different parts of a city, i.e. non-slum urban areas, urban slums and rural areas.
  
  
  METHODS
  A door to door survey was conducted in identified areas of Delhi. A total of 3000 children (0-15 years) were randomly selected and examined for presence of otitis media. These children were equally distributed in the three areas under consideration. Data was analyzed to establish the prevalence of different types of otitis media. Chi-square test was then applied to compare disease prevalence among the three areas.
  
  
  RESULTS
  7.1% of the study population was identified with otitis media, which includes CSOM (4.26%), OME (2.5%) and ASOM (0.4%). In the non-slum urban parts of the city, 4.6% children had otitis media. This was significantly lower compared to 7% children in rural parts of Delhi and 9.9% in urban slums of the city. The prevalence of CSOM was considerably higher in slum areas (7.2%) as compared with rural (3%) and non-slum urban areas (2.6%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Ear infections are significantly more common in urban slums as compared to non-slum city areas and rural parts of Delhi.
authors.affiliation: Maulana Azad Medical College, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, Delhi 110002, India. Electronic address: shellychadha@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Shelly K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Chadha
authors.affiliation: Maulana Azad Medical College, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, Delhi 110002, India. Electronic address: gulati.kriti@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Kriti
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gulati
authors.affiliation: Maulana Azad Medical College, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, Delhi 110002, India. Electronic address: gargsuneela@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Suneela
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Garg
authors.affiliation: Maulana Azad Medical College, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, Delhi 110002, India. Electronic address: arunmamc@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Arun K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Agarwal
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002908:Chronic Disease; D002947:Cities / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D010034:Otitis Media with Effusion / Q000453:epidemiology*; D010035:Otitis Media, Suppurative / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011204:Poverty Areas; D015995:Prevalence; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: Acute suppurative otitis media; Chronic suppurative otitis media; Otitis media with effusion; Rural; Urban slums