대구지역 유치원 아동들의 삼출성 중이염에 대한 유병률 조사

Abstract

Otitis media with effusion(OME) is a very common disease in infants and young children. The frequency of occurrence declines with age after the first year of life except for a limited reversal of the downward trend between five and six years of age. However, a few literatures on epidemiologic study of otitis media with effusion arc available in Korea due to the great variability of its diagnostic criteria and clinical features. The aim of this study is to provide the estimate of OME prevalence and discussion of its epidemiology. The study population includes 500 children enrolled in 7 kindergartens in Tacgu area. In this study group of 500 children, 293 were boys and 207 were girls with mean age of 5 years(range ： 4-6 years). Eighty-two children were considered to have OME(prevalence : 16.4%) with the peak at 5 years of age(18.2%). Of the 82 children with OME, twenty-six percent had bilateral involvement and all the remainder had unilateral involvement. Hearing dufficulty was the chief complaint in 9.8%，but majority of the cases were free of subjective symptoms(72.9%). Average hearing level in pure tone audiometry was 21dB with range from 2dB to 55dB.