Otitis Media With Effusion: Comparative Effectiveness of Treatments

Abstract

To compare benefits and harms of strategies currently in use for managing otitis media with effusion (OME). Treatment for OME may include single approaches alone or combinations of two or more approaches. We compared benefits and harms among these treatments: tympanostomy tubes (TT), myringotomy (myr), adenoidectomy (adenoid), autoinflation (auto), oral or nasal steroids, complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), and watchful waiting (WW). We included comparisons of treatment effectiveness in subgroups of patients with OME, and whether outcome differences were related to factors affecting health care delivery or the receipt of pneumococcal vaccine inoculation.