PREVALENCE OF OTITIS-MEDIA IN A SURVEY OF 591 UNSELECTED GREENLANDIC CHILDREN

In an unselected survey in two Greenlandic towns, 591 children were ex amined to study the prevalence of otitis media (OM). The attendance ra te in Nuuk was 80%, while 93% participated in Sisimiut. The children w ere three-, four-, five- and eight-years-old and represented 18% of ch ildren in these age groups in all Greenland. In total, 51.7% in Nuuk a nd 54.1% in Sisimiut presented pathologic middle ear affections rangin g from slight to severe. The prevalence rates of chronic OM (COM) were 6.8% in Nuuk and 11.7% in Sisimiut (P = 0.055) but without significan t age or sex difference. The acute OM point prevalence rate was betwee n 1.5% and 0.4%. The prevalence rate of middle ear effusion (MEE) was between 23.0% and 28.2%. Secretory OM was significantly more prevalent in the younger age groups. The odds ratio of having COM was significa ntly higher in children with two Greenlandic born parents (3.07) than in children with only one Greenlandic born parent. A follow-up study a fter one year in Sisimiut revealed unchanged or aggravated middle ear disease in 56.8% of 82 children with middle ear pathology at the prima ry survey. Thus, OM persists as a major health problem among Greenland ic children, although the general socio-economic and medical condition s have improved during the last decades. Proposals are provided for in creased otologic efforts.