Black N
J Laryngol Otol. 1985 Oct;99(10):953-66. doi: 10.1017/s0022215100098005.
Over the past one hundred years medical views on the cause of glue ear have frequently changed. The medical literature was reviewed to see if these changes reflected advances in the level of scientific support for different causes. This revealed that only a few of the many proposed causes command any scientific support. An explanation for the changing pattern of views on the aetiology of glue ear was therefore sought by considering secular changes in medical knowledge and belief in general. This suggested that the views held on the cause of glue ear at any given time are influenced and largely determined by the prevailing knowledge and beliefs of medicine as a whole. This phenomenon is not peculiar to glue ear--though conditions about which there is considerable uncertainty are probably more susceptible to such influences.
在过去的一百年里，医学界对胶耳病因的看法频繁变化。回顾医学文献，以探究这些变化是否反映了对不同病因科学支持水平的进步。结果发现，众多提出的病因中只有少数获得了科学支持。因此，通过总体考虑医学知识和观念的长期变化，来探寻胶耳病因观点变化模式的解释。这表明，在任何特定时期，关于胶耳病因的观点受到整个医学领域普遍知识和观念的影响，并在很大程度上由其决定。这种现象并非胶耳所特有——不过，存在相当多不确定性的病症可能更容易受到此类影响。
