Introduction

Otitis Media (OM), inflammation of the middle ear, is one of the most common pediatric medical problems in the United States.

• The peak incidence of otitis media occurs between six and twelve months of life and declines after age five (Danishyar A. 2019).
  • Approximately 80% of all children will experience a case of otitis media during their lifetime.
  • Between 80%, and 90% of all children will have otitis media with an effusion before school age. 
  • Otitis media is less common in adults than in children, unless it occurs in immunocompromised adults .
• Almost half of infants experienced AOM by age 1 (Chonmaitree T. 2016).
  • Important AOM risk factors included frequent viral URI, pathogenic bacterial colonization, and lack of breastfeeding.
  • Bacterial-viral interactions may play a significant role in AOM.

Children often experience OM as a continuum of symptoms. The disease usually begins with an upper respiratory infection (URI). The infection then spreads to the middle ear (ME). The ME infection may cause distressing acute symptoms including fever, earache, ear drainage, hearing loss etc. or it may smolder for months with few symptoms. Often young children are unable to communicate symptoms, parents and caregivers must be on guard for the signs of OM.

References:

Danishyar A, Ashurst JV. Acute Otitis Media. [Updated 2019 Jul 30]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2020 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK470332/

Chonmaitree T., Trujillo R., Jennings K.,  Alvarez-Fernandez P., Patel JA., Loeffelholz MJ., Nokso-Koivisto J., Matalon R., Pyles RB., Miller AL, and McCormick JP. (2016).

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