A comparison of the effectiveness of pharmacologic treatment of otitis media with effusion in children: Integrative and meta-analysis

(1) The treatment of otitis media with effusion is controversial and has in consistent variations of pharmacotherapeutic practices. Current pharmacolog ic practices include use of antibiotics, antihistamine and/or decongestants , or a combination of antibiotics with antihistamine and/or decongestants. The effectiveness of these treatment protocols was examined through an inte grative and meta- analysis of published research. Data was collected from r esearch published over a 17 year period from 1980 to 1997. The hypothesis i s that children, ages three months to 12 years, with otitis media with effu sion who are untreated will demonstrate successful resolution of effusion e qual to those treated with pharmacologic agents (P<0.05). The integrative a nd meta- analytic results reject this hypothesis, as pharmacologic treatmen t is statistically significant in its resolution when compared to no treatm ent (P=0.0017). However, there is a weak effect size (R=0.07).