Topical and oral steroids for otitis media with effusion (OME) in children

CONCLUSIONS: Overall, oral steroids may have little effect in the treatment of OME, with little improvement in the number of children with normal hearing and no effect on quality of life. There may be a reduction in the proportion of children with persistent disease after 12 months. However, this benefit may be small and must be weighed against the potential for adverse effects associated with oral steroid use. The evidence for nasal steroids was all low- or very low-certainty. It is therefore less clear if nasal steroids have any impact on hearing, quality of life or persistence of OME. Evidence on adverse effects was very limited. OME is likely to resolve spontaneously for most children. The potential benefit of treatment may therefore be small and should be balanced with the risk of adverse effects. Future studies should aim to determine which children are most likely to benefit from treatment, rather than offering interventions to all children.PMID:38088821 | PMC:PMC10718197 | DOI:10.1002/14651858.CD015255.pub2

Source: Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews - December 13, 2023 Category: General Medicine Authors: Caroline A Mulvaney Kevin Galbraith Katie E Webster Mridul Rana Rachel Connolly Ben Tudor-Green Tal Marom Mat Daniel Roderick P Venekamp Anne Gm Schilder Samuel MacKeith Source Type: research