See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/364378148

Prevalence of acute otitis media in children younger than four years

Article in The European Journal of Public Health · June 2021

DOI: 10.1093/eurpub/ckab120.054

CITATIONS READS

0 17

4 authors, including:

Tatiana Marques Carla Pinto de Moura

CIBIT—Coimbra Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Translational Research, Uni… University of Porto
9 PUBLICATIONS 17 CITATIONS 77 PUBLICATIONS 492 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

António Miguéis
University of Coimbra
61 PUBLICATIONS 88 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by António Miguéis on 10 December 2022.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Coimbra Health School abstract supplement of Annual Meeting 2021 ii17

Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/eurpub/article/31/Supplement_2/ckab120.054/6336165 by guest on 10 December 2022

Prevalence of acute otitis media in children younger

than four years

Tatiana Marques1,2, Carolina Fernandes3, Carla Moura4,5,6,

António Miguéis7
1
Audiology Department, Coimbra Health School, Polytechnic Institute of
Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
2
Institute of Nuclear Sciences Applied to Health (ICNAS), University of
Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
 ii18 European Journal of Public Health, Volume 31 Supplement 2, 2021

3
Department of Education, Coimbra College of Education, Coimbra,
Portugal
4
Department of Genetics, University of Porto, Faculty of Medicine, Portugal
5
São João University Hospital Centre, Porto, Portugal
6
I3S: Institute for Research and Innovation in Health/Instituto de
Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, University of Porto, Alameda Professor
Hernâni Monteiro, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal
7
University Clinic of Otorhinolaryngology, Faculty of Medicine, University of
Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
Background
Acute otitis media (AOM) is one of the most common diseases
in childhood, affecting approximately 50% of all children. The
most common age range to develop AOM is 3–24 months, due
to a current or recent upper respiratory tract infection, which

Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/eurpub/article/31/Supplement_2/ckab120.054/6336165 by guest on 10 December 2022

induces the eustachian tube to develop fluid or secretion from
the middle ear inflammation. The acute onset of symptoms in
older children is characterized by otalgia and rubbing of the
ear, however, AOM in younger children include nonspecific
symptoms such as fever, irritability, or poor feeding, being
unreliable guides to the diagnosis. Thus, the underdiagnosis of
AOM can lead to serious complications include acute
mastoiditis or meningitis. Hence, the study aims to investigate
the prevalence of AOM in children younger than four years.
Methods
A cross-sectional study was conducted in a kindergarten, being
enrolled children between 1 and 4 years. The protocol included
otoscopy and tympanometry.
Results
A total of 23 children with a mean age of 2-year-old
(SD = 0.88) were evaluated, with 17 children (34.8%) diag-
nosed with AOM, of whom 2 (15.4%) had unilateral
alterations and 11 (84.6%) bilateral alterations.
Conclusions
AOM is one of the main childhood pathologies, affecting
approximately 34.8% of younger children. Success in decreasing
prevalence of AOM will depend on prevention of nasopharyngeal
pathogen colonization, as well as decrease of viral upper
respiratory tract infection, which can be reduced with nasal
saline irrigation, a clinical and economic therapeutic approach.
Keywords: Children, earache, middle ear, otitis media.

View publication stats