Incidence and recurrence of acute otitis media in Taiwan's pediatric population

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:To report the incidence and recurrence of acute otitis media (AOM) in Taiwan's pediatric population.METHODS:Information from children (aged< = 12 years) with a diagnosis of AOM was retrieved from the 2006 National Healthcare Insurance claims database. We calculated the cumulative incidence rate and the incidence density rate of recurrent AOM within one year after the initial diagnosis in 2006. We used a multivariate logistic regression model to assess the predictors for recurrence of AOM.RESULTS:The annual incidence rate of AOM was estimated to be 64.5 cases per 1,000 children. The overall one-year cumulative incidence rate of recurrence was 33.1%, and the incidence density rate was 33.5 cases per 100 person-years, with the highest figure (41.2 cases per 100 person-years) noted for children aged 0-2 years. Recurrence was significantly associated with age, gender, place of treatment, and physician specialty.CONCLUSION:AOM remains a major threat to children's health in Taiwan. Male children and very young children require more aggressive preventive strategies to reduce the risk of recurrence.

Multi-Drug Resistant Acute Otitis Media amongst Children Attending Out-Patient Clinic in Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital, Awka, South-East Nigeria

“…This is attributed to their having shorter and more horizontal Eustachian tube, lower immunity compared to adults and the fact that bacteria adhere better to epithelial cells of young children than adults [7]. The males had a significantly (P < 0.05) higher prevalence than females and this consistent with reports of Nwankwo and Okeke [13] and Wang et al [14]. The reason for this observation is still unknown.…”

Epidemiology of acute otitis media among young children: A multiple database study in Taiwan

“…8 Wang et al, using the National Health Insurance (NHI) claims database of Taiwan, estimated that the age-specific annual incidence of OM was 71.7 per 1000 children aged <2 years, and 158.8 per 1000 3-to 5-yearolds, and 4.0 per 1000 children aged 6 to 12 years. 9 These data show a quite different incidence of OM among children in Taiwan as compared with other countries.…”

“…Another study in Taiwan demonstrated that a peak age incidence of AOM among children was 3 to 5 years. 9 The two questionnaire studies showed that most of children in Taiwan had their first AOM episode after infancy (Fig. 2).…”

“…One study surveyed the incidence OM in kindergartens from May to July on 2001, 10 while another focused on the incidence at any age and the management of different medical specialties in giving a diagnosis of OM. 9 The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence and incidence of OM, and the epidemiological pattern of OM among young children, and to compare the differences of the epidemiology of OM with previous survey studies in Taiwan.…”

A review of the burden of disease due to otitis media in the Asia-Pacific

“…Prevalence of OM by age in Thailand, Annual AOM prevalence and AOM-related outpatient visits and hospital admissions, Singapore[104].…”