Surgically Treated Middle Ear Diseases detected in Health Examination for Three-Year-Old Children

Abstract

Otological screening tests consisting of tympanometry and questionnaires have been performed since 1991 as part of health examination for three-year-old children in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. The records of 41 children (78 ears) who later underwent tympanoplasty or tube insertion were analyzed. Among 32 (62 ears) out of the 41 children, 19 children (36 ears) were detected for the first time as being abnormal at the screening, while 13 (26 ears) had been treated before. The 19 children (36 ears) newly detected at the screening consisted of 33 ears with intractable secretory otitis media (SOM), 2 ears with adhesive otitis media, and one ear with chronic otitis media. Although they all showed sympanometric abnormalities, only 7 of them were selected through questionnaires. These results suggest the importance of tympanometry in this screening system to detect SOM effectively and other intractable middle ear diseases in addition to sensorineural hearing loss.