RISK FACTORS OF OTITIS MEDIA WITH EFFUSION IN CHILDREN: A CASE-CONTROL STUDY

Abstract

Background: Otitis media with effusion (OME) is a common disease, especially in children. Objective: To study demographic and clinical characteristics, tympanometry, and risk factors of OME in children. Materials and methods: In a case-control study, 35 OME pediatric patients and 35 healthy children whose parents responded to questionnaires designed to capture the history of diseases in the early life of participants, family history of allergy, family socioeconomic status, and home environmental factors. Results: In the univariate analysis, there were associations between OME and exposure to smoking at home [odd ratios (OR)=2.97; p=0.029], snoring (OR=3.63; p=0.019), history of acute otitis media (AOM) (OR=7.11; p=0.002), history of upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) (OR=6.30; p<0.0001). However, only two of them had statistically significant correlations with OME in the multivariate logistic regression model: history of acute otitis media [OR=5.98; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.25-28.54; p=0.025], history of URTI (OR=7.33; 95% CI, 2.04-26.39; p=0.002). Conclusion: OME is asymptomatic, especially in children. URTI and acute otitis media in early life are closely associated with OME.