[Comparison of prevalence rates of secretory otitis media in Hong Kong Chinese children with western populations].

Objective: To investigate the prevalence rate of secretory otitis media (SOM) in Hong Kong Chinese children and further compare the results with the western studies.

Methods: From 1995 to 1998, primary schools, kindergartens and nurseries were selected by stratified randomization in Hong Kong of China. Six thousand eight hundred and seventy-two children of age 2 to 7 were examined on-site in the school premises by the otolaryngologist and audiologist with otoscope and tympanometry respectively. In order to achieve standardization comparisons, our raw data were retrieved and the prevalence rates were recalculated according to the various diagnostic criteria set by the western studies.

Results: The prevalence of SOM in the age-groups 2-3, 4-5 and 6-7 of the present study ranged from 5.2% to 21.6% if criteria were set to clinical otoscopic findings and ranged from 7.3% to 30.7% if criteria were based on tympanometric findings. The variations in the diagnostic criteria with tympanometric findings also lead to a deviation of prevalence rates with the same set of data. Regardless of the criteria set for investigations, there are no significant differences between our findings and those of the western studies with the same age groups. Prevalence rates decrease as age increases.

Conclusions: The prevalence rates of SOM in Chinese children of age 2-3, 4-5 and 6-7 in Hong Kong are not significantly different from those reported in the literature of the West.