Sameera Fatima, Shadab Masood, Junaid Rashid, Imran Saeed, Muhammad Zeeshan Khan, Samreen Ashraf.
Undiagnosed Otitis Media with Effusion in Admitted Children Aged 6-59 Months: Otoscopy a Forgotten Skill.
Pak Paed J Jan ;46(1):42-7.

Objective: To estimate the prevalence of undiagnosed Otitis Media with Effusion (OME) in children aged 6 months to 59 months admitted in pediatric medical wards. Study Design: Observational cross-sectional study Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted in Pediatric Medicine wards at The Children`s Hospital, Lahore from August 2020 to May 2021 Material and Methods: 319 patients selected through non-probability consecutive sampling and fulfilling the inclusion and exclusion criteria were assessed for signs of OME by otoscopy. The collected data was analyzed and stratified into gender, age and reason of admission. Frequency and percentages were used to estimate the prevalence of undiagnosed OME while chi-square test was used to analyze the effect of variables on its frequency. Results: The mean age of cases was 30.12 +- 15.09 months with 182 (57.05%) males and 137 (42.95%) females. A total of 39 (12.2%) patients had undiagnosed OME. There was no significant difference when stratified for gender and age (p-values of 0.546 and 0.276 respectively). In patients admitted with lower respiratory diseases, OME was seen in 20 (24.69%) cases which was significantly higher than the cases with other diagnoses on admission (p-value of 0.002) Conclusion: Significant percentage of children admitted in pediatric units have undiagnosed OME. Prevalence of OME is higher in patients with lower respiratory disorders.

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