Outcome of acute otitis media and its relation to clinical features and nasopharyngeal colonization at the time of diagnosis

Children (n = 115; age range 1-9 years) with a diagnosis of acute otitis media (AOM) were eligible for this study and were enrolled within 24 h of the onset of symptoms/signs. A nasopharyngeal culture was obtained at the initial visit. Children were treated with a single oral antibiotic for 7 days. Changes in symptoms/signs and tympanic membrane features assessed by a scoring system were monitored for 1 month and related to the nasopharyngeal pathogen recovered on Day 1. More than 80% of children had no symptoms/signs by Day 3, and 60% of cases had normal tympanic membranes by Day 29. Children without any symptoms/signs on Day 3 had significantly lower symptom/sign scores on Day 1 (p = 0.005). Seventy-nine percent of cases carried middle ear pathogens in the nasopharynx at diagnosis: Streptococcus pneumoniae (48%); Haemophilus influenzae (24%); and Moraxella catarrhalis (16%). Children with S. pneumoniae showed significantly higher tympanic membrane scores than children with no pathogen at Days 8, 15 and 29 (p < 0.01 for each comparison). Multivariate regression analysis revealed that lower tympanic membrane score on Day 1, the absence of S. pneumoniae in the nasopharynx and treatment with amoxillin were independent factors for rapid normalization of the tympanic membrane. These data suggest that the clinical course of AOM may be predicted, in part, at the time of diagnosis by means of careful evaluation of symptoms/signs and the tympanic membrane as well as knowledge of pathogens harbored in the nasopharynx.