FREQUENCY OF OTITIS MEDIA WITH EFFUSION IN CHILDREN PRESENTING WITH CLEFT PALATE

Abstract

Objective: The objectives of the study was to determine the frequency of otitis media with effusion in children presenting with cleft palate in our setup Methods: Study Design was cross sectional. Patients with cleft palate who presented in the Department of Otolaryngology, Capital Hospital, Islamabad over a period of 5 years were included in the study by Non-Probability, Consecutive Sampling. These included 102 (n=102) children of both genders, aged 2- 12 years, who presented with untreated cleft palate and fulfilled the criteria for selection and consented for the study. Study population was subjected to Otoscopy and Impedance measurements, to detect the presence or absence of otitis media with effusion. Collected data was entered and analyzed by SPSS version 20. Results: The age range of patients was 2 - 12 years with a mean of 7.71+3.38 years. Majority of the patients were aged between 10-12 years (47.0%), followed by 2-5 years (27.5%) and 6-9 years (25.5%). Gender distribution showed a male preponderance with male to female ratio M:F = 1.83:1. Otitis Media with Effusion was noted in 74 (72.5%) cases with no statistically significant difference in the frequency of OME across age (p=0.988) and gender (p=0.956) Conclusion: The frequency of otitis media with effusion was found to be 72.5% in children presenting with cleft palate with no statistically significant difference in the frequency of OME across age and gender groups. This indicates a huge burden of hearing and speech disabilities which will occur if this is left unidentified and untreated. Keywords: Cleft palate, otitis media, effusion