Prevalence of chronic suppurative otitis media in primary school children in Antananarivo, Madagascar.

Abstract

Chronic Suppurative otitis media is a major cause of hearing disability in developing countries having a profound effect on language development, scholastic performance and psychosocial interactionof children at varying ages. Aim: To determine the prevalence of chronic suppurative otitis media among primary school children aged five years up to 14 years in Antananarivo. Setting: Randomly selected primary schools in Antananarivo. Study Design: Descriptive cross sectional study. Methodology: Children in randomly selected primary schools had their medical history appraisal, otoscopic and audiological evaluation to verify the presence of features of chronic suppurative otitis media defined as persistent otorrhoea through a perforated ear drum for more than two weeks with or without hearing loss. Results: Six hundred and twelve primary school children were reviewed, age range was 5 to 14 years (mean 9.05), thirteen had CSOM with prevalence of 2.12% (p<0.05) with predominance of male, 10 against 3 for female. Conchisien: The primary school children in this specific study have prevalence of 2.12% of chronic suppurative otitis media with male preponderance. This prevalence is relatively low according to the low socioeconomic class of the study population