OME (glue ear) is very common and at any given time about 30% of 3 year olds have OME. This is due to Eustachian tube immaturity and in part to presence of adenoid tissue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It occurs principally in pre- and primary school age children and the natural history is one of spontaneous remission, predominantly between the ages of eight and ten years. Therefore a large proportion of cases can be managed by ‘watchful waiting’<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For further information, please also see<\/strong> “Adenoids”<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n OME can be asymptomatic but can lead to conductive hearing loss (CHL) and\/or recurrent acute otitis media (RAOM).<\/p>\n\n\n\n A middle ear effusion will be present in ~80% of children at 2 weeks following acute otitis media. In 50% of children with OME resolution is seen at 3 months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Children in Scotland should all undergo neonatal hearing screening, so significant or sensorineural losses should be picked up early.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Hearing loss in children in the majority of cases will be fluctuating, conductive and due to OME, thus hearing loss in children concurrent and following URTI is very common. This will usually settle and does not require referral. C.M. & G.T. 12-05-23<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Factors to take into consideration:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Refer to audiology:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Refer to ENT, who can then also arrange audiology assessment:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reassurance:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Medical management<\/p>\n\n\n\n If nasal obstruction a 3-month trial of nasal steroids and\/or saltwater spray\/rinse and an oral antihistamine can be beneficial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Key Guidance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n NICE Clinical Knowledge Summary<\/p>\n\n\n\n https:\/\/cks.nice.org.uk\/otitis-media-with-effusion#!scenario<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n NICE Clinical Guideline 60: Otitis Media with Effusion in Under 12s: Surgery<\/p>\n\n\n\n https:\/\/www.nice.org.uk\/guidance\/cg60\/chapter\/1-Guidance<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n The advice in the NICE guideline covers: <\/p>\n\n\n\n Introduction OME (glue ear) is very common and at any given time about 30% of 3 year olds have OME. This is due to Eustachian tube immaturity and in part to presence of adenoid tissue. It occurs principally in pre- and primary school age children and the natural history is one of spontaneous remission, predominantly<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":4246,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[179],"class_list":["post-4237","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-omeglueearpaeds"],"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"heatherlevy","author_link":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/author\/heatherlevy\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":" Otitis Media Effusion - Glue Ear (Paeds)<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Introduction OME (glue ear) is very common and at any given time about 30% of 3 year olds have OME. This is due to Eustachian tube immaturity and in part to presence of adenoid tissue. It occurs principally in pre- and primary school age children and the natural history is one of spontaneous remission, predominantly","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4237"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22467,"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4237\/revisions\/22467"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Hearing loss:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
If the hearing loss persists over 3 months, refer to audiology only. Should this be sustained, audiology will refer on to ENT for consideration of grommet insertion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/ul>\n
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Examination: <\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Parents should be urged to stop smoking<\/strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n