Otitis Media with Effusion in Children Aged 2-12 Years Attending the Paediatric Clinic at Mulago National Referral Hospital, a Ugandan Tertiary Hospital: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Otitis media with effusion (OME) is common in children aged between 6 months to 4 years, and it is one of the causes of hearing loss (HL) in children worldwide. OME is a type of inflammation of the middle ear in which there is collection of the fluid. The later causes HL which interferes with speech and language development, communication skills, school performance, psychosocial skills, and quality of life of children. Methods This was a prospective cross-sectional study on 246 children aged 2 -12 years, attending Mulago National Referral Hospital (MNRH). Consecutive sampling procedure was used to reach each participant under ethical considerations until the sample size was reached. All children aged 2-12 years who meeting inclusion criteria were examined first by the Paediatrician and then by the Principal Investigator. Patients who had diagnosis of OME following the otoscopy and tympanometry findings were then proceed for audiological assessment. Prevalence of OME was summarized as a proportion and multivariate analysis was used to determine the factors associated with OME. Data was analyzed using STATA version 13.0. Results A total of 246 children were recruited into the study. Of the 246 children, 60% were male. The median age of the participants was 4.8 ± 2.8 years. The prevalence of OME was found to be 11%. Upper respiratory tract infections (URTI), recurrent AOM (p= 0.005, OR:5.14, 95% CI: 1.66-15.96), and snoring (p= 0.000, OR: 6.32, 95% CI: 2.32-17.26) were found to be strongly associated with OME in children aged 2-12 years attending MNRH. Conclusions The prevalence of OME among children 2-12 years attending MNRH was found to be 11%. There is association between OME and URTI, recurrent AOM, and snoring in children aged 2-12 years attending MNRH.