Surgery for otitis media and infectious susceptibility in 10-year old school children

Summary Objectives Assess infectious susceptibility in children previously operated for otitis media and evaluate reliability of parental reported otitis media surgery in the same group of children. Methods Population based, cross-sectional survey of 10-year olds in the city of Oslo, Norway studying otitis media and surgical intervention in n = 3406 with reliability assessments in a subset of n = 2027. Results Ten percent of children had otitis media surgery. Peak age was 2.5 years for adenoidectomy and tympanostomy tubes and 3 years for myringotomy. The crude odds ratio (cOR) with 95% confidence interval (95% CI) for one or more episodes of otitis media at 10 years in children with previous otitis media surgery was 3.4 (2.7–4.4). Intervention after the child was 4 years increased the risk further, crude odds ratio 4.2 (2.9–6.1). Kappa coefficients for agreement in answers to questions on otitis media surgery performed in children between 0 and 4 years were 0.9 for adenoidectomy, 1.0 for tympanostomy tubes, and 0.6 for myringotomy. Conclusion Otitis media in 10-year old children was associated with previous surgical intervention, particularly when performed after 4 years of age. Parental reports of tympanostomy tubes and adenoidectomy in early childhood were found reliable.