Prevalence and associated risk factors of recurrent otitis media with effusion in children in Upper Egypt

Khaled Saad; Abobakr Abdelmoghny; Yasser F Abdel-Raheem; Eman Fathalla Gad; Amira Elhoufey

doi:10.1016/j.wjorl.2020.08.002

Prevalence and associated risk factors of recurrent otitis media with effusion in children in Upper Egypt

World J Otorhinolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2020 Sep 19;7(4):280-284. doi: 10.1016/j.wjorl.2020.08.002. eCollection 2021 Oct.

Authors

Khaled Saad¹, Abobakr Abdelmoghny², Yasser F Abdel-Raheem¹, Eman Fathalla Gad¹, Amira Elhoufey^{3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt.
² Department of ENT, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Assiut, Egypt.
³ Department of Community Health Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Assiut University, Egypt.
⁴ Department of Community Health Nursing, Alddrab University College, Jazan University, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Objective: We conducted this study to determine the associations of possible risk factors and prevalence of recurrent otitis media with effusion (OME) in a cohort of children in Upper Egypt.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study undertaken in two tertiary referral centers in Upper Egypt. Associations of possible risk factors with prevalence of recurrent OME were studied. Multi-factor logistic regression analysis was done to recognize the statistically significant risk factors associated with recurrent OME.

Results: We collected the data of 2003 pediatric patients, of which 1016 were males (50.7%). A total number of 310 children have OME, including 159 males (51.3%). The prevalence rate of OME in our cohort was 15.5%. Multi-factor logistic regression analysis of the risk factors related to recurrent OME showed it was strongly associated with adenoid hypertrophy (P < 0.0001), tonsil hypertrophy (P < 0.0001), sinusitis (P < 0.0001), posterior nostril polyps (P = 0.009), allergic rhinitis (P < 0.0001), recurrent URTIs (P = 0.029) and gastroesophageal reflux (P = 0.031).

Conclusions: Our study showed that recurrent OME in children in Upper Egypt is a common multifactorial problem, especially in young age. In our locality, allergic rhinitis, recurrent upper respiratory tract infections, gastroesophageal reflux, adenoid and tonsil hypertrophy were the most important associated factors related to the etiopathogenesis of OME.

Keywords: Children; Otitis media with effusion; Prevalence; Recurrent; Risk.