The prevalence of middle ear disease in the adult British population

Abstract

The UK National Study of Hearing set out to ascertain the prevalence of hearing impairments of various magnitudes, the prevalence of ear disease and the associated risk factors, and to estimate the percentage of individuals requiring some form of management. A stratified sample of 2708 British adults, aged 18-80 years, was chosen from a sample of 48,313 adults, randomly selected from the electoral roll, for a full otological and audiological assessment. This paper deals primarily with the middle ear results. Otoscopically, 2.6% of British adults had inactive and 1.5% had active chronic otitis media. This condition was more common in older individuals and in those in manual occupations. For this purpose, presumptive otosclerosis was defined as a conductive component to the impairment (average air bone gap over 0.5, 1 and 2 kHz of 15 dB or greater) and with an intact tympanic membrane. The population prevalence for presumptive otosclerosis was 2.1%, for healed OM 1.7% and for Eustachian tube dysfunction 0.9%. This prevalence of otosclerosis was higher in those over 40 years, but only in those with air bone gaps of 30 dB or greater were women more likely to have the condition than men, by a factor of three. At most, 20% of individuals with any of the above middle ear conditions will have had ear surgery.

A comparative study on the nasal endoscopic findings in patients with chronic otitis media

“…25 Bacteria can get into the ME via the external auditory canal through a perforated TM or following a persistent upper respiratory infection with insufflations of microbial agent via the pharyngeal part of the ET. 24 In our study, patients presented with combinations of symptoms. Almost all the COM patients had complaints of otorrhoea (92.5%).…”

“…[19][20][21][22][23] While a national study on hearing in the United Kingdom found no gender difference. 24 Many investigators have revealed the role of upper respiratory tract abnormalities as causative factors for ET obstruction in the etiopathogenesis of COM. This study evaluated the relationship between COM and sinonasal abnormalities and demonstrates the vital role of diagnostic nasal endoscopy in the objective assessment and definitive management of COM patients.…”

Chronic suppurative otitis media in Nepal: ethnicity does not determine whether disease is associated with cholesteatoma or not

“…In a robust study, Little et al 4 calculated that 7.4 per cent of the Nepalese population had tympanic membrane pathology, comparing unfavourably with an estimated UK prevalence of chronic otitis media of 4.1 per cent. 6 Interestingly, Little's group found a very similar rate of cholesteatomatous disease (24 per cent) to that seen in our study, and a similar value In addition, we must acknowledge the risk of confounding factors in our study, due to the nature of the ear camps from which our data were drawn. Although there are very limited medical services (and particularly otological services) in the regions visited, there may have been a small proportion of relatively wealthy patients with ear disease who were able to access treatment by other means.…”

“…It is well recognised that the condition is a disease of poverty most often found among socially deprived groups within a genetically homogeneous population. 6 It has also been observed that deprived ethnic minorities often demonstrate high rates of chronic ear disease in general. It has been noted, for example, that New Zealand Maoris, Inuit peoples, native Americans and Australian Aboriginals all have high rates of chronic ear disease relative to the more affluent (and genetically distinct) dominant populations of their respective countries.…”

Chemical Cauterization by Using Trichloroacetic Acid in Tympanic Membrane Perforations: Our Experience

“…(6) A perforated tympanic membrane results in loss of hearing due to decreased drum area and liability to recurrent infection of the middle ear mucosa. (9) These problems limit the patient's participation in water sports and for job recruitment in the military service and as a motor vehicle driver. (10) MATERIALS AND METHODS 1.…”