A 14-year prospective follow-up study of children treated early in life with tympanostomy tubes: Part 1: Clinical outcomes

Abstract

Objective: To determine 14-year otological outcomes in young children treated with early insertion of ventilation tubes (VTs) for recurrent acute otitis media or otitis media with effusion (OME). Design: Prospective 14-year follow-up. Setting: Central Hospital of Central Finland, a tertiary care hospital. Patients: Three hundred five consecutive infants and young children aged 5 to 16 months with otitis media were enrolled for early initial tympanostomy tube insertion. The final study group comprised 237 patients (77.7%) attending the 14-year checkup. Main Outcome Measures: At the 14-year checkups, abnormal otological findings were recorded and results compared with those of the 5-year checkups. Results: From 5 to 14 years' follow-up, the number of healed ears increased from 156 (65.8%) to 177 (74.7%), while the number of ears with abnormal outcomes decreased from 81 (34.2%) to 60 (25.3%). Of 156 healed ears, 142 (91.0%) remained healed, and 35 (43.2%) of 81 ears with abnormal outcomes healed. The proportion of abnormal outcomes was higher among ears with OME (P = .02) and with 3 or more VT insertions (P