PREVALENCE OF OTITIS-MEDIA WITH EFFUSION IN MULTICULTURAL SCHOOLS IN HONG-KONG

The prevalence of otitis media with effusion (OME) in Asia has only be en studied in a limited fashion. This preliminary study forms part of a larger study aiming to establish the prevalence of OME in Hong Kong. One hundred and seventy-seven children (from multicultural schools) b etween the ages of five and 6.03 years were screened for OME using oto scopy and tympanometry. Nine positive screens (5.1 per cent) were obta ined for OME. Within this mixed ethnic group, Chinese children had a s ignificantly lower point prevalence (1.3 per cent) than Caucasian chil dren (9.5 per cent) (p<0.05). Although the point prevalence from this mixed ethnic group of children was significantly higher (p<0.05) than that of local Chinese school children (1.95 per cent) by the same grou p of investigators, the point prevalence in the ethnic Chinese childre n was comparable. The reason for the lower prevalence of OME in the Ch inese population needs further research.