Prevalence of chronic suppurative otitis media in schoolgoing children

Introduction: Chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM) is a major health problem throughout the world in underdeveloped and developing countries including India. The high prevalence of CSOM in school children in India has led us to undertake this study in schoolgoing children of rural and urban areas of Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh and to find out the various predisposing factors for the development of CSOM. Objectives: The objective is to find out the prevalence of CSOM in schoolgoing children of the rural and urban population about age, sex, and socioeconomic status. Materials and Methods: Students were randomly selected from primary schools in rural and urban areas of Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh. Cases selected was categorized in relation to age, sex, socioeconomic status, and prevalence of the safe and unsafe type of CSOM. Observations: In the present study, a cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2158 school children between the age group of 5 and 15 years. A total of 1161 children belonged to urban school whereas 997 children were from three adjacent rural government schools. A total of 78 children were found to be suffering from either unilateral or bilateral CSOM. Conclusion: The prevalence of CSOM in urban school children was 2.32%, while for rural children, it was 5.11%. 42.10% of cases of CSOM belonged to upper-lower socioeconomic group followed by lower middle group (31.57%). The tubotympanic disease was present in 87.18% of CSOM cases while 12.82% had atticoantral disease. Active CSOM was found amongst 37.18% while 62.82% had inactive disease. 42.10% had smoking father, 36.84% had indoor cooking with kerosene oil exposure, and 34.21% used unhygienic ear cleaning methods. 31.58% had a history of recurrent URI, 28.95% had chronic tonsillitis, and 21.05% of children had domain name system as associated findings with CSOM.