Otitis Media with Effusion in Children with Hearing Loss- A Hospital Based Retrospective Study

ABSTRACT

Otitis media with effusion is a salient disease and its clinical symptoms are not so obvious to be noticed by parents or even doctors. Therefore early diagnosis and treatment are important as hearing deprivation in children can have effect on linguistic development of child. Methods: This retrospective study was conducted on children with hearing loss aged between 3-15 years presenting to ENT OPD of SMGS Hospital, for a period of 1 year from. Total of 100 children were included. Detailed history aand complete ENT examination was done. PTA and Impendance Audiometry was done. Results: The mean age was 7 years with male female ratio of 1.8 1. Hearing loss which was the chief complaint. Other complaints were aural fullness (38%) followed by otalgia (29%), poor attention (17%) and poor acaedemic performance(16%).Higher prevalence in males(59%) of OME as compared to females. About 30% patients showed congested drum suggestive of acute suppurative otitis media. Other findings noted were dull drum (20%), air bubbles (6%) and air fluid level (8%) all were suggestive of otitis media with effusion.. Pure tone audiometry revealed moderate hearing loss in 59% patients of otitis media with effusion whereas it was mild in 14 patients.Impedance audiometry revealed B type graph in 85% patients. Conclusion: To prevent delayed diagnosis which leads to development of this disease, parents must be informed about the preventable risk factors and symptoms of otitis media with effusion.