Prevalence of acute otitis media in children younger than four years

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 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%) diagnosed 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.