Posted at 00:45h
in
Infections,
NEJM
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. T. M. A van Dongen, MD
Univ Med Ctr Utrecht
Julius Ctr Hlth Sci & Primary Care, Dept Epidemiol
Utrecht, Netherlands.
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: We performed a pragmatic trial, in which we randomly assigned 230 children who had acute tympanostomy-tube otorrhea to receive antibiotic-glucocorticoid eardrops, oral antibiotics or to undergo initial observation. The primary outcome of our study was the presence of ear discharge, 2 weeks after study-group assignment. We also looked at, among others, the duration of the initial otorrhea episode and the total number of days of otorrhea and the number of otorrhea recurrences during 6 months of follow-up. We found that antibiotic–glucocorticoid eardrops were superior to oral antibiotics and initial observation for all outcomes.