IS THERE A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PROXIMITY TO INDUSTRY AND THE OCCURRENCE OF OTITIS-MEDIA WITH EFFUSION IN SCHOOL ENTRANT CHILDREN

In a study of the relationship between the prevalence of persistent ot itis media with effusion (OME) in school entrant children in Redcar an d Cleveland and the distance of the homes of these children from known industrial emission points, 1156 school entrant children were screene d for the presence of persistent OME. The social disadvantage scores a nd map references were determined from the postcode area of each of th e study entrants and map references were also obtained of known indust rial emission points in the locality. Analyses were conducted on the a ssociation between the presence of OME and distance from emission sour ces and between the presence of OME and disadvantage score. A signific antly greater proportion of study entrants with OME lived within 1000 metres of an industrial emission point than further away. However, the re was no trend established between the proportion of study entrants w ith OME and increasing distance from an emissions source, nor was ther e any significant relationship established between the social disadvan tage score of the areas of residence of the study entrants and the pre sence of OME. Further research is required to establish the effect of confounding variables on this relationship.