Background: Although many papers were reporting the severe otitis media, there are few papers focusing on the pediatric patients at private clinic.
Methods: In this paper, the clinical course of pediatric patients with otitis media at private clinic was studied. Types of otitis media, ages, treatment methods and outcomes are described.
Results: From 1998 to 2002, 3715 patients, who were younger than 18 years old, visited Teramoto Ear Nose Throat clinic. Among them, 1812 patients had acute otitis media (AOM) or otitis media with effusion (OME). According to their clinical course, these 1812 patients were classified to following four groups; 1) AOM with single episode: 963 (53%), 2) recurrent AOM: 382 (21%), 3) OME with recurrent AOM: 150 (8.3%), 4) OME without episode of AOM: 317 (17%). In the 70 to 80% of the patients with OME with or without recurrent AOM, the middle ear effusion resolved within three to six months. On the other hand, treatment longer than one year was required in about five percent of the patients with OME.
Conclusions: Present study revealed that the prevalence of the persistent OME and/or OMA was lower than it has been reported. These results should be considered to develop the effective strategy for the treatment of OME and OMA.
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