Long-term hearing outcomes after recurrent acute otitis media during early childhood

Abstract

Objective: To survey long-term hearing outcomes and middle ear pathology in a 30-year follow-up in individuals with onset of recurrent acute otitis media (rAOM) before three years of age.

Methods: 28 adults, aged 30.1–31.8 years, who originally – at the age of 12–32 months – participated in a study on rAOM between 1979 and 1983, were re-examined regarding self-reported ear problems, current tympanic membrane changes and audiology. Thirteen subjects had suffered from rAOM during early childhood and 15 subjects served as a control group.

Results: Recurrent acute otitis media subjects reported hearing problems comparable to those of the controls. Pure tone audiometry, at 125–8000 Hz, did not differ between groups. The rAOM group had a trend for impaired high-frequency (9000–14,000 Hz) threshold levels (9000–14,000 Hz); implying that their cochlear function seemed to have deteriorated.

Conclusions: Adults, who suffered from recurrent acute otitis media as infants, did not show any clinically significant hearing loss for pure tone audiometry when compared to controls, but there was a trend for impaired results regarding extended high frequency audiometry (9–14 kHz). Children suffering from rAOM will be at low risk of developing hearing loss and severe middle ear disease.

Chinese abstract

结论：与对照组相比, 婴儿时期患复发性急性中耳炎（rAOM）的成年人, 纯音听力测定（PTA）没有显示出任何临床显著听力损失, 但是经进一步高频听力测定（9-14 kHz）, 有听力损失的趋势。患有rAOM的儿童面临发生听力损失和严重中耳疾病的风险很低。

目的：调查三岁之前曾患rAOM的患者的30年随访期间的长期听力情况和中耳病变。

方法：对28名年龄在30.1〜31.8岁的成年人, （他们在12〜32个月开始, 参加了1979〜1983年间的rAOM研究）, 重新检查了他们自我报告的耳朵问题、目前的鼓膜改变及听力情况。在幼年期患rAOM的研究对象有13例, 15例为对照组。

结果：复发性急性中耳炎患者报告的听力问题与对照组相当。 在125-8000Hz, PTA在两组之间没有差异。 rAOM组有高频阈值水平（9000-14,000 Hz）的趋势, 意味着他们的耳蜗功能似乎已经下降。

Keywords:

• Follow-up
• acute otitis media
• hearing

Acknowledgements

Henrik Harder, MD, Ph.D., University Hospital Linköping; Bo Tideholm, MD, Ph.D., now at Karolinska University Hospital; Joacim Stalfors, MD, Ph.D., University Hospital Sahlgrenska; Lars Lundman, MD, Ph.D., Karlstad Hospital, for examining the patients living outside Stockholm. Lise Holmén Björkroth for hearing measurements. Magnus Backheden for statistical analysis. Jeremy Wales for language advise.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.