Secretory otitis media and phonology when starting school.

The relationship between previous middle ear disease, the presence of secretory otitis media, and phonology was investigated in 99% of a cohort of 387 unselected 7-year-old children from two Danish municipalities. All the pupils were tested with a phonological sentence repetition test called SITO, when starting school. The social and otological backgrounds were obtained from the parents. When using an analysis of variance, there was an association between phonology and tympanogram type in the better ear. No association with otological history or pure-tone screening was found. The correlation between tympanogram type and phonology was confirmed in a stepwise multiple regression analysis with nine possible confounding variables. In the statistical model, the tympanogram type could 'explain' 2-3% of the variation in phonology compared with the most important background variable, the social group of the mothers 'explaining' about 4-5% of the variation. About 15% of the variation could be 'explained' by the included variables.