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George A. Gates, MD

JAMA. 1999;282:987-989.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Otitis media (OM) is one of the most common disorders of childhood. Annual health care costs for treatment of OM in children younger than age 6 years are estimated at $5 billion.¹ Frequent episodes of OM in infancy are associated with developmental delay and lower IQ scores.² Despite advances in therapy, recurrent OM remains a challenging clinical problem. Factors predisposing to OM are viral upper respiratory tract infection, exposure to large numbers of children (either at home or in day care), male sex, lack of breastfeeding, smoking in the home, low socioeconomic status, and genetic background.³

Prior to the advent of antibiotics, surgical procedures on the pharynx, ie, adenoidectomy, tonsillectomy, or adenotonsillectomy, were widely used and were anecdotally effective in decreasing the frequency and severity of recurrent OM. However, the evidence of effectiveness from early studies was not persuasive and the rate of adenoidectomy and adenotonsillectomy . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Author Affiliation: Virginia Merrill Bloedel Hearing Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle.

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