Oral steroids for the resolution of otitis media with effusion (OME) in children (OSTRICH): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

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• 作者：Cherry-Ann Waldron ; Emma Thomas-Jones ; Rebecca Cannings-John ; Kerenza Hood…
• 关键词：Oral steroids ; Otitis media with effusion ; Children ; Hearing ; Randomised controlled trial
• 刊名：Trials
• 出版年：2016
• 出版时间：December 2016
• 年：2016
• 卷：17
• 期：1
• 全文大小：812 KB
• 刊物主题：Medicine/Public Health, general; Biomedicine general; Statistics for Life Sciences, Medicine, Health Sciences;
• 出版者：BioMed Central
• ISSN：1745-6215

文摘

Background Otitis media with effusion (OME) is an accumulation of fluid in the middle ear affecting about 80 % of children by the age of 4 years. While OME usually resolves spontaneously, it can affect speech, behaviour and development. Children with persistent hearing loss associated with OME are usually offered hearing aids or insertion of ventilation tubes through the tympanic membrane. Oral steroids may be a safe and effective treatment for OME, which could be delivered in primary care. Treatment with oral steroids has the potential to benefit large numbers of children and reduce the burden of care on them and on health services. However, previous trials have either been too small with too short a follow-up period, or of too poor quality to give a definite answer.