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Abstract
All consultations with a physician due to acute otitis media (A.O.M.) in eight communities in three different areas in Finland were registered during a one-year period. The annual incidence rate of A.O.M. was 4.44 % in the population at risk. This means about 195,000 acute attacks annually in Finland. With the follow-up percentage of the present study, the total number of office visits to a doctor because of A.O.M. would be 405,000 in Finland per year, 5.6 % of all office visits. The average cost of an attack of A.O.M. with follow-ups and medicine in Finland is calculated to be 312 FIM (79 USD), and the total cost of A.O.M. would be appr. 61 million FIM (15 million USD) per year in Finland (1979 prices and exchange rates). These figures still exclude travelling expenses and the costs of a parent's absence from work because of her/his sick child as well as the costs of the sequelas of A.O.M., especially secretory otitis media.