ISSN: 2639-2038
Authors: Nazik E Abdulla*, Nagwa M Ibrahem and Osama M Khalid
Chronic supportive otitis media (CSOM) is the most common cause for hearing loss. It is an important cause of preventable hearing loss, particularly in the developing world. Objectives of this study are: To study the clinical presentation and risk factors of CSOM. Materials and methods: A prospective, cross sectional, analytic study conducted during the period (Sep to Nov 2019) in Khartoum ENT Teaching Hospital, including all pediatric patients below 18 years who presented with CSOM without otitis external and agreed to participate in the study. Chi square test was used to calculate the P value for significance, regarded as significant if less than 0.05. Results: A total of 76 patients were enrolled in this study, male and females were almost equal, age raged from 2 to 17 years. Symptoms of CSOM were otorrhoea, hearing loss, ear pain, dizziness and itching in that order of frequency. Most of the disease was tubotympanic type (86.1%). Significant risk factors†included percentage among studied patients†were: Recurrent upper respiratory tract infections (88.2%), recent history of acute otitis media (77.6%), recurrent acute otitis media (77%), passive smoking (80.2%), bottle feeding (77.9%), flat position during breast bottle feeding (73.6%), poor hygiene (86.8%), low socio-economic status (72.4%), low level of mothers’ education (72.4%) and poor nutrition (73.6%). Risk factors are interrelated and interact with each other. Irrelevant factors were: Crowded house, regular swimming, ear cleaning habits, nasal allergy and ventilation tube insertion. Recommendations: A full scale project to study CSOM at a community level is recommended with involvement of health educators. Founding a protocol for management of CSOM in a multidisciplinary approach (ENT, Audiology, Immunology, Pediatric and school health providers).
Keywords: CSOM; Risk; Factors; Clinical, Presentation; Hearing; Loss
