Secretory otitis media and its sequelae in children living in charitable institutions.

Children living in two Brazilian institutions were studied otologically and audiologically. Group I comprised 100 children (52 males and 48 females) ranging from 1 year to 2 years and 5 months of age. Group II comprised 50 male children ranging from 4 to 14 years of age. Secretory otitis media was found in 31% of the children (22% of the male population and 9% of the female population) of group I. Suppurative otitis media (17%), perforation of ear drum (2%) and retraction of the ear drum (34% with middle ear pressure more negative than -100 mmH2O) were found in group I. Secretory otitis media (15 subjects, 30% of population) and permanent tympanic perforation (3 cases, 6% of the population) were observed among children of group II. All children under investigation showed delay of speech and language development that could not be correlated to hearing loss.