Acute otitis media in ambulatory practice: epidemiological and clinical characteristics after 7 valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) implementation

In US, pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) had reduced the burden of AOM and changed the profile of the disease. Prior to PCV7 implementation in France, AOM represented 8% of pediatricians visits and failure rate was 12%. The aim of this study is to describe the epidemiologic characteristics of AOM after PCV7 implementation. From 2007 to 2008, 30 pediatricians enrolled 3141 patients 3 to 36 months old with AOM. Standardized history and physical examination findings were recorded. Factors related to AOM failures were identified by multivariate logistic regression. AOM accounted for 5.8% of the 43 433 visits or 6.2 cases/week per pediatrician. Among 3141 evaluable AOM cases (mean age 16.7±8 months, peak incidence at 10 months), 99% had been vaccinated with PCV7 and 42.1% attended day care (DCC). Recurrent AOM comprised 24.5% of cases and 51% of children had received ATB in the last 3 months. At the time of diagnosis, 47.1% had fever≥38,5°C, 74.5% otalgia and 4.7% otorrhea. Febrile and painful AOM accounted for 29.5% of cases and cunjunctivitis-otitis syndrome for 18.2%. ATB was prescribed in 98.7% of cases (cefpodoxime proxetil, 59% and amoxicillin/clavulanate, 37%). The failure rate was 6.4% and failure risk was greater in children in DCC (OR=1.50, [1.10;2.05]), young age