Relationship of prolonged pacifier use with acute otitis media

Abstract

Introduction: The pacifier is defined as an object whose shape is similar to that of a nipple and is made of rubber, making it easier for children to suck, many times it is mothers who include it in breastfeeding without measuring the consequences and effects that it causes with constant use. , affecting health, one of them (Acute Otitis Media). The objective of this systematic review is to determine the relationship between the frequent use of pacifiers and the development of AOM (Acute Otitis Media) in children under 48 months of age. Methods: To carry out the search, the following question was posed: What is the relationship between prolonged pacifier use and otitis media in children under 4 years of age? The search was carried out from May 16 to June 20, 2022. scientific databases reviewed were: PubMed, Ebsco, ScienceDirect, ProQuest and Scopus. To carry out the systematic review, the Boolean operators AND and OR were used, in which three specific combinations (DeCS and MeSH) were used to perform the combinations and execute the search. Results: Initially 1883 were found, but after applying the inclusion and exclusion rules, a total of 45 articles were analyzed. Said reviews began to be reviewed by titles, abstract, and finally, the full text was read, thus leaving only three articles according to the objectives set. Conclusion: The results obtained through this study show the relationship between the prolonged use of the pacifier or pacifier with the development and incidence of AOM (Acute Otitis Media) in children under four years of age, it was possible to observe which is a very frequent emergency in the pediatric population. On the other hand, it is estimated that this population under three years of age has had at least one picture of it, more current studies are required to compare if the incidence statistics of the relationship between pacifier and AOM have been increasing.