Prevalence of chronic otitis media with effusion in a pediatric tracheotomy population: A retrospective review

The prevalence of chronic otitis media with effusion (COME) was investigated in a 4‐year retrospective study of a pediatric tracheotomy population followed in the outpatient Tracheotomy‐Ventilation Clinic of Children's Hospital of Wisconsin. After exclusions, 83 patients comprised the study population. In a given patient, COME was defined by the presence of middle ear effusion in more than 50% of ear evaluations during the 4‐year study period, or tympanostomy tube placement. The prevalence of COME was 60% in the study population as a whole. Special population groups had prevalences as follows: 90% in craniofacial anomaly patients, 79% in chronically ventilated patients, and 48% in nonventilated patients. Chronically ventilated patients had a statistically significant higher prevalence of COME than the nonventilated group (P < 0.025). These data indicate that COME is a prevalent condition in the pediatric tracheotomy population. Pediatr Pulmonol. 1999; 28:194–198. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.