Otitis Media With Effusion After the COVID-19 Pandemic: Return to the Past and New Lessons.

Objective: To assess the prevalence of otitis media with effusion (OME) among children who attended a tertiary level audiologic center 2 and 3 years after the COVID-19 lockdown, and to determine the impact of temporary interruption of day care center attendance on chronic OME.
Study Design: Retrospective study.
Setting: Tertiary level referral audiologic center.
Methods: We assessed the prevalence of OME among children aged 6 months to 12 years in 3 different periods (May-June 2022, January-February 2023, and May-June 2023) and compared the results with those of the corresponding periods before the COVID-19 lockdown. We also compared the disease resolution rates between a subgroup of children with chronic OME who interrupted day care center attendance for a 2-month period (Subgroup A) and a similar subgroup who continued attending day care centers (Subgroup B).
Results: The prevalence of OME was 38.5% (138/358) in May-June 2022, 51.9% (193/372) in January-February 2023, and 40.9% (149/364) in May-June 2023. No significant prevalence differences were observed between the periods May-June 2019, May-June 2022, and May-June 2023 (P = .78), and between the periods January-February 2020 and January-February 2023 (P = .93). At the May-June 2023 assessment, the children belonging to Subgroup A presented a greater rate of disease resolution (85.7%, 18/21) than the children belonging to Subgroup B (32%, 8/25, P < .001).
Conclusion: This study suggests that the prevalence of OME has returned to prelockdown levels, and that interrupting day care center attendance for a 2-month period could be effective in resolving most cases of chronic OME.
(© 2024 American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery Foundation.)