How harmful is otitis media to children

You may not know that children’s otitis media, a minor disease, has caused such a disaster to children

In China, there is an average of 1 secretory otitis media or acute otitis media per 8 children (12.5%). China has a large population, with nearly 200 million primary and secondary school students and 20 million kindergarten children. One eighth of them means that at least 27 million children have experienced secretory otitis media or acute otitis media. In the United States, 5 million children suffer from acute otitis media every year, and the cost of prescription antibiotics exceeds $10 million each year.

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Children’s otitis media is mainly secretory otitis media. At 6 months, the cumulative incidence of the first onset of children’s secretory otitis media is 35% – 85%, 50% – 96% at the age of 1 year. Some children’s secretory otitis media subsides within 3 months, 30% – 40% of children’s secretory otitis media will recur, and 5% – 10% of children’s secretory otitis media will last for more than 1 month.

Secretory otitis media is defined as effusion of the middle ear without symptoms and signs of acute otitis media. The tympanic membrane is amber or dark, with gas-liquid plane or bubbles, and the activity of tympanic membrane is reduced.

Please note that children with secretory otitis media may have the following manifestations:

(1) slight intermittent earache and fullness. Infants are prone to frequent ear scratching, irritation and sleep.

(2) the infant has poor response to the surrounding sound and cannot turn his head to the sound source accurately.

(3) hearing loss, even if the child does not actively tell the parents, the parents should also observe the child’s carelessness, behavior change, no response to normal dialogue, and always turn on the sound very loud when watching TV or using hearing equipment.

(4) unstable academic performance, poor balance, unexplained clumsiness, and slow movement (such as playing badminton).

(5) speech language development retardation.

As a result of otitis media caused by hearing problems, the impact on children is multifaceted. If the child has the above phenomena, the parents should take the child to the hospital or professional institutions to check the child’s ears. If the child is diagnosed with secretory otitis media, the ears will be in the state of bacterial invasion after the baby has secretory otitis media. At this time, parents should take measures to prevent further deterioration of hearing.

Take measures to prevent hearing deterioration

(1) pay attention to prevent spilling or choking milk.

(2) try to avoid upper respiratory tract infection.

(3) avoid unnecessary noise.

(4) it is forbidden to use ototoxic drugs.

(5) when bathing, try not to let water enter the ear canal.

If the child is diagnosed with secretory otitis media by the doctor, please do not panic and actively cooperate with the doctor for treatment.

Generally, there are two treatment options: non-surgical treatment and surgical treatment: non-surgical treatment refers to children within 3 months of the onset of the disease, which needs close observation. It is recommended to follow up once every 2-4 weeks. When the secretory otitis media lasts for more than 3 months, accompanied by hearing loss or other symptoms, and the secretory otitis media lasts or relapses, accompanied by high-risk factors (permanent hearing loss, speech retardation or disorder, autism, genetic syndrome, cognitive and speech disorders caused by abnormal craniofacial development, cleft palate, etc.) or the hearing water of better ears during observation If the average is 40 dBHL or worse, surgical treatment should be taken.

Special attention should be paid to feeding the baby:

(1) whether it is breast milk or formula milk, the position of breast feeding should be correct. Do not let the baby lie on his back and eat milk. It is better to have a slightly high head and a half lying position.

(2) after feeding, try to pat your baby’s back patiently. It’s best to be able to pat out the septum.

(3) the baby who eats the formula milk should pay attention to the hole of the nipple to prevent the baby from choking the milk because he has no time to swallow.

(4) if the baby coughs, make the baby lie down on his side with his head slightly higher, make the corner of his mouth lower, and let the milk flow out of the corner of his mouth.

The prevention of secretory otitis media is mainly to avoid the occurrence of cold. Without cold, the chance of congestion and edema of pharynx and nasopharynx mucosa will be reduced, and the function of eustachian tube will be in good condition. If a cold has occurred, it should be diagnosed and treated in time.

Secretory otitis media belongs to conductive hearing impairment, most of which can be cured, and the degree is generally mild to moderate, while normal hearing is very important to the speech development of the baby. In the critical period of speech development (0-3 years old), if there is hearing impairment, it will affect the speech development of the baby, even if there is mild to moderate hearing impairment, it will also make the baby’s voice unclear, leading to Speech development is slow and speech is not clear. Therefore, in the critical period of children’s speech development, we should fully understand the hearing status of the baby, communicate with the audiologist in time, and obtain professional consultation guidance and help.

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