Past history of otitis media and balance in four-year-old children

Objectives/Hypothesis: To obtain normative data for a population of childre n 4 years of age with respect to standard vestibular and balance test proto cols and to determine, in the absence of concurrent middle ear effusion (ME E), the possible changes caused by a history of recurrent or persistent MEE , Study Design: Comparative studies of the results of vestibular and balanc e tests in a cohort of young children with and without a history of MEE, Me thods: Seventy-one children, 4 years of age, with a well-documented history since early infancy regarding the presence or absence of MEE were evaluate d using pneumatic otoscopy, tympanometry, audiometry, and vestibular and ba lance (rotational and moving platform posturography) tests, For the results of the vestibular and balance tests, comparisons were made between the gro up of 31 children (43.7%) without and the group of 40 children (56.3%) with a history of recurrent or persistent MEE, when a positive disease history was defined as at least a 10% cumulative percentage of time with MEE betwee n early infancy and time of testing. Results: When compared with children w ith a negative history of significant MEE, children with a positive history had a lower average gain to a rotational stimulus of 0.1 Hz, 150 degrees/s (0.57 vs. 0.44; P = .007), There were no significant differences between g roups with respect to other measures. Conclusions: These results suggest th at a history of recurrent or persistent MEE affects the vestibular and/or b alance function of 4-year-old children when tested in the absence of a conc urrent episode of MEE. The possible sequelae of the disease should be weigh ed in future considerations of early intervention for MEE.