Otitis Media and Obesity-An Unusual Relationship in Children.

Cristina Gavrilovici,Anca-Viorica Ivanov,Ingrith Miron,Mirabela-Smaranda Alecsa,Violeta Ștreangă,Adriana Mocanu,Elena-Lia Spoială

doi:10.3390/healthcare9040458

Cristina Gavrilovici, Anca-Viorica Ivanov + Show 5 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9040458

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Abstract

Otitis media (OM) represents a public health matter, being the main cause of preventable hearing loss in pediatric patients. Besides well-established risk factors for developing OM, such as craniofacial abnormalities, prematurity, low birth weight, or tobacco exposure, there is evidence that obesity could be associated with a high incidence of OM. Our aim is to perform a literature review on the state of current published research on the relationship between OM and obesity and to discuss the interconnectivity between these two entities. We conducted an electronic search in PubMed and EMBASE databases. Out of 176 references, 15 articles were included in our study. Our findings suggest that obesity and overweight might be risk factors for developing OM, and vice versa. The main mechanisms for developing OM in obese patients include alteration in cytokine profile, increased gastroesophageal reflux, and/or fat accumulation. Conversely, ear infections exposure might increase the risk of obesity, mostly by taste changes through middle ear cavity inflammation.

Highlights

Otitis media (OM) represents a public health matter characterized by middle ear inflammation with rapid onset of manifestations, such as pain, fever, anorexia, and irritability [1]
Four years later, Kim SH et al [24] conducted a case-control study [27] on a sample of 140 pediatric patients aged 2–7 years old who received unilateral or bilateral myringotomy tube insertion for otitis media with effusion (OME) and 190 pediatric patients without OME who underwent various surgical procedures excepting myringotomy tube insertion during the same period; they reported that the frequency of obesity was significantly higher in children with OME. These findings suggest that childhood obesity could be a risk factor for OME development
Our literature review has gather relevant information to prove that pediatric obesity is associated with a higher prevalence of otitis media with effusion (OME) in children, the mean body mass index (BMI) in patients with OME being higher comparing to healthy, normally developed children

Summary

Introduction

Otitis media (OM) represents a public health matter characterized by middle ear inflammation with rapid onset of manifestations, such as pain, fever, anorexia, and irritability [1]. The introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines induced a decline in OM incidence, the wide variety of risk factors for ear infections still remains a problem of identification and management [5]. This condition is a leading cause of antibiotic prescription, being an important determinant of preventable hearing loss with negative effects on language, psychosocial, and cognitive development [6]. In children under 24 months of age, overweight and obesity diagnosis is based on weight-to-length ratio, while for 2–5-year-olds it is based on BMI (using the WHO 2006 and 2007 reference curves) [10,11]

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