Childhood otitis media with effusion: six-year follow-up.

Twenty-five patients were re-evaluated six years after presenting with their first episode of otitis media with effusion. The average age at presentation was 6.2 years. Twenty-three were found on follow-up to have normal audiometry and tympanometry, and had improved or at least remained stable in school performance. Recurrences of acute middle ear disease were noted during follow-up in eight of the patients, specially among the six who had presented in the summer, and more frequently among the eight children who eventually had tympanostomy tubes placed. This study appears to support the concept that otherwise normal American children presenting with otitis media with effusion seem fairly uncommonly to develop severe, recurrent middle ear disease.