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Parents' response to recurrent middle ear infection in their children

From the Departments of Community Health Sciences, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden

Lennart Råstam, MD, PhD

Lennart Råstam MD, PhD, From the Departments of Community Health Sciences, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden, Address for offprints: Dr Lennart Råstam Dept of Communicy Health Sciences Bangatan 5 S-21426 Malmö, Sweden

Sven-Olof Isacsson, MD, PhD

From the Departments of Community Health Sciences, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden

Leif Ingvarsson, MD, PhD.

From the Departments of Otolaryngology, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden

Recurrent ear infection in children during pre-school years is an important public health problem. Common advice given to parents is to minimize exposure of susceptible children to crowding and air pollution. This study aimed at investigating what changes parents undertake to improve the health of an otitis-prone child. Parents of children with 5 events before age thirty months (index children; n = 198) and a matched control group (n = 396) were asked to fill in a questionnaire. Results show that 22.3% of indexfamilies and 9.5% (p< 0.001) of control families had changed one or more of the following conditions: working hours, child day-care, housing and smoking habits. In summary, index families and control families were remarkably similar given the striking difference in otitis media, a finding that rises concern.

Key Words: Compliance • crowding • day-care • environment • housing • otitis media • pre-school child • smoking.

Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, Vol. 18, No. 1, 25-30 (1990)
DOI: 10.1177/140349489001800104


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