Eustachian tube function in otitis-prone and healthy children.

To evaluate the significance of Eustachian tube function in recurrent acute otitis media (rAOM), 50 otitis-prone children (greater than 11 episodes of AOM) were compared with 49 children without rAOM. Tubal function tests were: initial middle-ear pressure, active tubal function (muscular opening function), passive function (pressure opening and closing levels), and inflationary and deflationary capacity. The otitis-prone children were found to have significantly poorer active tubal function than controls. Other test results did not differ between the two groups. The otitis-prone children were also divided into subgroups with and without intermittent secretory otitis media (SOM), and with and without allergy, but no differences in tubal function tests were found between the different subgroups. The findings suggest active tubal function to be the most significant variable regarding proneness to rAOM, but not to distinguish between particular subgroups of otitis-prone children. The available technique for testing Eustachian tube function is insufficiently sensitive, however, to be conclusive in individual cases, and it is still not possible to predict individual outcome of the illness from tubal function test results alone.