Otitis Media and Language Learning Sequelae: Controversies and Current Reseach

摘要

Considerable controversy surrounds whether a history of otitis media with effusion (OME) causes later language and learning difficulties. Otitis media is the most frequently diagnosed illness among children in the United States and one of the major reasons for medical management is to prevent any related developmental difficulties. In May, 2002, the conference, Olitis Media and Language Learning Sequelae, was held to: (1) review current research on the effects of OME on children's hearing and development: (2) identify gaps and future directions for research$ and (3) discuss implications for healthcare practices. Forty-eight people attended the conference. Current evidence indicates that the linkage of a history of OME in early childhood to later development, after accounting for important confounding variables, is negligible to mild in degree. However, the findings should be interpreted cautiously, given that almost all of the studies used OME rather than hearing loss as the independent variable and many did not control for important confounding variables.