Asitha Jayawardena, MD, MPH, pediatric otolaryngologist at Children’s Minnesota, and fellow kid experts in the Ear, Nose, Throat (ENT) & Facial Plastic Surgery department have published research in “The Laryngoscope,” a premier peer reviewed journal in the field. The study is titled, “Reduction of Antibiotic-Associated Conditions After Tympanostomy Tube Placement in Children.”
The study is built on the finding that systemic antibiotics in children are associated with an increase in certain conditions, including asthma, allergies, atopic dermatitis, celiac disease, obesity, and more later in life. This is why doctors try to prescribe antibiotics only when necessary.
Children with persistent ear infections are no strangers to multiple rounds of antibiotics. This typically prompts patient families and their care team to look at other solutions, including tympanostomy tube placement or ear tubes. Ear tubes are surgically inserted into the eardrum, allowing fluid and infection to drain out of the ear and ear drops with antibiotics to get into the ear.
Because ear tube placement has been shown to decrease ear infections and antibiotic usage, Dr. Jayawardena and team aimed to find if ear tubes could also be associated with a decrease in the antibiotic-associated conditions mentioned above.
Using electronic medical records from 1991 to 2011 at Children’s Minnesota, the team identified 27,584 patients who had recurrent ear infections, defined as three or more. They found that the subset of patients who pursued ear tubes were prescribed fewer antibiotics. These patients were then less likely to be diagnosed with obesity, asthma, allergies and atopic dermatitis.
This conclusion further illustrates the benefit of ear tubes and should encourage early referral for tubes in kids with recurrent ear infections.
You can read the full study here.
