[International consensus on the treatment of pediatric otitis media with effusion and current status of treatment in China].

International consensus on the treatment of pediatric otitis media with effusion and current status of treatment in China Summary Otitis media with effusion (OME) is a non-suppurative inflammatory disease of the middle ear characterized by middle ear effusion and hearing loss, which is common in children.The main impact of OME in children is hearing loss and cooccurring recurrent acute otitis media, which would affect speech language development. Thus OME should be highly vigilant and prompt treatment is necessary. There have been many guidelines and evidence-based medicine research on the diagnosis and treatment of OME in children. But there is still no unified conclusion. International Federation of Otorhinolaryngological Societies Congress(IFOS) published an international consensus on the diagnosis and treatment of OME in children in 2017 to promote the standardized diagnosis and treatment of the disease. The guidelines suggest that gastroesophageal reflux and allergy should be routinely evaluated in children with OME. Children should be routinely evaluated by hearing tests. Steroids, antibiotics, and decongestants are not recommended because they have no evidence of definite efficacy and could cause side effects. Patients with ineffective conservative treatment should undergo myringotomy, and children over 4 years old should also consider adenoidectomy.