Glue ear

Glue ear describes otitis media with an effusion (other terms include serous otitis media). It is common with the majority of children having at least one episode during childhood

Risk factors

• male sex
• siblings with glue ear
• higher incidence in Winter and Spring
• bottle feeding
• day care attendance
• parental smoking

Features

• peaks at 2 years of age
• hearing loss is usually the presenting feature (glue ear is the commonest cause of conductive hearing loss and elective surgery in childhood)
• secondary problems such as speech and language delay, behavioural or balance problems may also be seen

Treatment options include:

• active observation: the management for a child with a first presentation of otitis media with effusion is active observation for 3 months - no intervention is required
• grommet insertion - to allow air to pass through into the middle ear and hence do the job normally done by the Eustachian tube. The majority stop functioning after about 10 months
• adenoidectomy