CHRONIC SUPPURATIVE OTITIS-MEDIA AND CHOLESTEATOMA - VANISHING DISEASES AMONG WESTERN POPULATIONS

A population-based survey of patients who had undergone surgery for ch ronic ear disease over the past 30 years in northern Finland revealed that the number of new surgical cases of both chronic suppurative otit is media and cholesteatoma has declined sharply after a peak in 1971-1 974 and is now almost nonexistent in contrast to the number of patient s being operated on for chronic dry perforations, which has remained m ore or less the same. Most of the patients with chronic suppurative ot itis media and cholesteatoma had had chronic ear trouble as early as t he 1940s or 1950s. Moreover, if an active chronic otitis media develop ed in these cases, it. started at a younger age than in cases with an onset after the 1950s. These facts may indicate that the decrease seen in this population is in close connection with the introduction of an timicrobials in the treatment of acute otitis media in the mid-1950s i n the area.