Middle ear disease in CF? It's not just about the sinuses anymore!

Historically cystic fibrosis (CF), in contrast to primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD), has been considered protective of the middle ear from otitis media and rarely were such patients "severely affected" to require tympanostomy tube placement (BMT). Previously the Pittsburgh Otitis Media Research group reported a 10% prevalence of otitis media in the pediatric CF population which is significantly lower than age matched non-CF children. We studied the prevalence of OM in pediatric CF patients to assess if the otologic phenotype has changed in parallel with changes in the diagnosis itself.

The medical records of 133 CF patients seen either inpatient or outpatient from one of the largest tertiary pediatric CF centers in the world from 2010 to 2019 were reviewed for demographics, acute otitis media (AOM) episodes, risk factors for AOM, placement of myringotomy tubes, genotype, BMI, pancreatic status, respiratory culture results, and pulmonary exacerbations.

Just over half (52.6%) the patients were male. A median age for CF diagnosis was 11 days old (range 0 days-16 years). The most common genotype (49.6%) was homozygous for ΔF508 mutation. Fifty-five (41.4%) patients had 1-2 episodes of AOM, and 15 (11.3%) were severely affected (i.e. ≥3 episodes/6 months or ≥4 episodes/year). COME was diagnosed in 4 (3.0%) of the patients. Twelve (9.0%) patients had tympanostomy tubes at least once, including 3 patients with multiple sets of tubes. Having at least one AOM episode was not predicted by genetic mutation groups, BMI, age at diagnosis, or comorbidities, p > .05.

The time-honored adage of CF protecting against otitis media is no longer true and pediatric otolaryngologists must now prioritize the management of middle ear disease as highly as sino-nasal and pulmonary disease. Future study into mechanisms explaining the change is needed.