Sept. 2, 2003 -- Ear infection is getting more and more common
Sept. 2, 2003 -- Ear infection is getting more and more common in kids, a new study suggests.
Ear infections increased throughout the 1980s. That trend continued through 1994, report University of Rochester researcher Peggy Auinger and colleagues in the September issue of Pediatrics.
By 1994, nearly half of all kids got ear infections during their first year of life. And more than 40% of kids got them over and over again by age 6.
More Kids With More Infections
Auinger's team looked at surveys given to parents of more than 8,200 children. The families were representative of the U.S. as a whole.
The percentage of kids who had ear infections before age 12 months increased from 41% to 46%. This suggests that across the U.S., 561,000 more kids got early-onset ear infections in 1991-1994 than in 1988-1991.
The percentage of kids who got three or more infections by age 6 years increased from 35% to 41%. This suggests that across the U.S., 720,000 more kids got repeated ear infections in 1991-1994 than in 1988-1991.
Are Vaccines Helping?
The Auinger study looks at data only up to 1994. In the decade since then, there's been more use of vaccines that prevent major causes of ear infections. Have they worked? The jury's still out.
The bug thought to cause most ear infections is called Streptococcus pneumoniae. That's the target of the pneumococcal vaccine given to infants. And lots of kids get ear infections when they get the flu bug. More and more kids are getting annual flu vaccines, too.
The number of ear infections is likely to change following widespread immunization of children with these vaccines, Auinger and colleagues suggest.
