Otitis media with effusion in children aged 2–12 years attending the paediatric clinic at Mulago National Referral Hospital, a Ugandan tertiary hospital: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Otitis media with effusion (OME) is common in children aged between 6 months to 4 years, and it is one of the causes of hearing loss (HL) in children worldwide. OME is a type of inflammation of the middle ear in which there is a collection of fluid. The latter causes HL which interferes with speech and language development, communication skills, school performance, psychosocial skills, and quality of life of children. METHODS: This was a prospective cross-sectional study on 246 children aged 2 -12 years, attending the Mulago National Referral Hospital (MNRH). A consecutive sampling procedure was used to reach each participant under ethical considerations until the sample size was reached. All children aged 2–12 years who meet inclusion criteria were examined first by the Pediatrician and then by the Principal Investigator. Patients with tympanogram type B (flat curve) were diagnosed to have OME. The prevalence of OME was summarized as a proportion and multivariate analysis was used to determine the factors associated with OME. Data were analyzed using the STATA version 13.0. RESULTS: A total of 246 children were recruited for the study. Of the 246 children, 60% were male. The median age of the participants was 4.8 ± 2.8 years. The prevalence of OME was found to be 11%. Upper respiratory tract infections (URTI), recurrent AOM (p = 0.005, OR:5.14, 95% CI: 1.66–15.96), and snoring (p = 0.000, OR: 6.32, 95% CI: 2.32–17.26) were found to be strongly associated with OME in children aged 2–12 years attending the Mulago National Referral Hospital. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of OME among children aged 2–12 years attending MNRH was found to be 11%. There is an association between OME and URTI, recurrent AOM, and snoring in children aged 2–12 years attending MNRH.