Parents' response to recurrent middle ear infection in their children

Recurrent ear infection in children during pre-school years is an important public health problem. Common advice given to parents is to minimize exposure of susceptible children to crowding and air pollution. This study aimed at investigating what changes parents undertake to improve the health of an otitis-prone child. Parents of children with 5 events before age thirty months (index children; n = 198) and a matched control group (n = 396) were asked to fill in a questionnaire. Results show that 22.3% of indexfamilies and 9.5% (p<0.001) of control families had changed one or more of the following conditions: working hours, child day-care, housing and smoking habits. In summary, index families and control families were remarkably similar given the striking difference in otitis media, a finding that rises concern.