Observations on the incidence of secretory otitis media in Nigerian children.

This article relates the incidence of secretory otittis media to rhinitis and adenoid enlargement in Nigerian children. The investigation consisted of 3 parts: otoscopic rhinoscopic and impedance audiometry on 544 urban school children aged 3-11 years in a school in the city of Lagos; a similar survey of 220 rural children aged 3-11 years; and a similar prospective study of 90 children referred to the E.N.T. clinic of Lagos University Teaching Hospital during 1977-79 for tonsil and adenoid problems. All the children in the 3 studies were given a thorough otoscopic examination. The research was concerned with Type B tympano gram. Secretory otitis media was found to occur in children in the developing countries. No significant differences were found in the incidence of secretory otitis media between the 3 groups of children. There was a significant increase in the incidence of rhinitis among the rural children when compared with their urban counterparts. Rhinitis treated or untreated upper respiratory tract infection and enlarged tonsils or adenoids do not seem to play any role in the etiology of secretory otitis in the children studied.