Tympanostomy Tubes or Medical Management for Recurrent Acute Otitis Media

To the Editor: Hoberman et al. (May 13 issue) 1 found similar rates of improvement in pediatric patients with recurrent acute otitis media who had undergone either tympanostomy-tube placement or episodic antibiotic treatment. Unfortunately, the authors omitted conductive hearing loss as an outcome measure. For the 62% of study participants with otitis media with effusion at the time of randomization, assessment of hearing would be strongly recommended, given the risk of speech delay related to conductive hearing loss. 2,3 Furthermore, since nearly half of patients with acute otitis media have effusion 1 month after beginning treatment with antibiotics, 4 it is likely some . . .