Skip to main content
  • Original article
  • Open access
  • Published:

A comparative study of the efficacy of topical nasal steroids versus systemic steroids in the treatment of otitis media with effusion in children

En

Abstract

Objective

To evaluate the effectiveness of using topical nasal steroids versus oral steroids in the treatment of otitis media with effusion (OME) in children.

Methods

One hundred (100) patients were included in the study, they were divided into two equal groups, group A received intranasal mometasone furoate spray once daily for 6 weeks, and group B received oral steroids in tapering doses for 6 weeks, plus systemic antibiotics, and nasal decongestants for both groups, tympanogram was done every 2 weeks for all patients.

Results

Highly significant improvement (P < 0.01) of OME regarding symtoms, signs, and tympanometric results, occurred in each group separately at the end of the study, with no significant difference (P > 0.05) in improvement between the two groups.

Conclusion

Both topical intranasal and oral steroids are effective medical therapy in the treatment of OME in children with no significant difference between the two methods.

References

  1. Stool SE, Berg AO, Berman S, et al. Otitis media with effusion in young children. Agency for Health Care Policy and Research. Clin Pract Guideline 1994; 12: 1–13.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Williamson IG, Dunleavey J, Bain J, Robinson D. The natural history of otitis media with effusion — a three-year study of the incidence and prevalence of abnormal tympanograms in four South West Hampshire infant and first schools. J Laryngol Otol 1994; 108: 930–934.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Rosenfeld RM, Kay D. Natural history of untreated otitis media. The laryngoscope. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2003; 113: 1645–1657.

    Google Scholar 

  4. American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy Of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, American Academy of Pediatrics Subcommittee on Otitis Media with Effusion. Otitis media with effusion. Pediatrics 2004; 113:1412–1429.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Rosenfeld RM, Bluestone CD. Evidence-based otitis media. Hamilton, Canada: BC Decker Inc; 1999.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Cengel S, Akyol MU. The role of topical nasal steroids in the treatment of children with otitis media with effusion and/or adenoid hypertrophy. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol 2006; 70: 639–645.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Stool SE, Berg AO, Berman S, et al. Otitis media with effusion in children. Guideline Technical Report. No 12. AHCPR. Pub No.95-0621. Rockville, MD: US Department of Health and Human Services; 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Zielhuis GA, Rach GH, Broek PV. Screening for otitis media with effusion in preschool children. Lancet 1989; 1: 311–314.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Casselbrant ML, Brostoff LM, Cantekin EI, Flaherty MR, Doyle WJ, Bluestone CD, Fria TJ. Otitis media with effusion in preschool children. Laryngoscope 1985; 95: 428–436.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Haggard M, Hughes E. Screening children’s hearing: a review of the literature and implications of otitis media. London, UK: HMSO; 1991.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Petrou S, Dakin H, Abangma G, Benge S, Williamson I. Cost-utility analysis of topical intranasal steroids for otitis media with effusion based on evidence from the GNOMETrial. Value Health 2010; 13: 543–551.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Poliakova SD, Popova EA. Effectiveness criteria for the topical application of glucocorticosteroids to the treatment of exudative otitis media associated with allergic rhinitis. Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 2011; 137: 449–455.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Goldbart AD, Veling MC, Goldman JL, Li RC, Brittian KR, Gozal D. Glucocorticoid receptor subunit expression in adenotonsillar tissue of children with obstructive sleep apnea. Pediatr Res 2005; 57: 232–236.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Laliberte F, Laliberte MF, Lecart S, Bousquet J, Klossec JM, Mounedji N. Clinical and pathologic methods to assess the long-term safety of nasal corticosteroids. French Triamcinolone Acetonide Study Group. Allergy 2000; 55: 718–722.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Szefler SJ. Pharmacokinetics of intranasal corticosteroids. J Allergy Clin Immunol 2001; 108: 26–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Williamson I, Benge S, Barton S, Petrou S, Letley L, Fasey N, et al. Topical intranasal corticosteroids in 4–11 year old children with persistent bilateral otitis media with effusion in primary care: double blind randomised placebo controlled trial. BMJ 2009; 339:b4984.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ahmad Nassar MD.

Additional information

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as the author is credited and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.

Conflicts of Interest

There are no conflicts of interest.

Rights and permissions

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as the author is credited and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.

To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Anwar, M., Abdel-Aziz, M., Nassar, A. et al. A comparative study of the efficacy of topical nasal steroids versus systemic steroids in the treatment of otitis media with effusion in children. Egypt J Otolaryngol 31, 208–212 (2015). https://doi.org/10.4103/1012-5574.168210

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.4103/1012-5574.168210

Keywords