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The relative community burden of otitis media and varicella
1Department of Research, Olmsted Medical Center, Rochester, Minnesota, USA.
Insights
Otitis media significantly impacts children and families, causing substantial work loss and healthcare use. Effective vaccines could offer significant cost savings for this common childhood illness.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Public Health
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Otitis media is a prevalent and expensive childhood illness with significant potential for cost reduction through vaccination.
- Comparing the family burden of otitis media to varicella, another common childhood illness with available cost-effective vaccines, provides valuable context.
Purpose of the Study:
- To conduct a population-based survey assessing the family burden of otitis media.
- To compare the burden of otitis media with varicella in terms of affected children, complications, healthcare utilization, and parental work absence.
Main Methods:
- A population-based survey of 4557 households with 9047 children under 13 years old.
- Data collection included rates of affected children, complications, medication use, hospitalizations, parental work absences, and use of special sick-child day care.
Main Results:
- 26.1% of children experienced otitis media, with 68% of two-year-olds having at least one episode.
- Approximately one-third of families lost workdays, averaging 3 hours per affected child.
- Otitis media presented a greater overall burden than varicella in terms of affected children, episodes, and healthcare utilization, with similar total family work loss.
Conclusions:
- Otitis media imposes a substantial community burden, exceeding varicella in several key metrics.
- Despite similar total work loss, otitis media affects more families, highlighting its widespread impact.
- Population-based longitudinal studies incorporating parental work loss and healthcare costs are crucial for determining the cost-benefit of otitis media prevention programs.
Abstract:
Otitis media is a common and costly condition of childhood, with a great potential for cost savings from an effective vaccine. We present a population-based survey of the family burden of otitis media and compare it with another common childhood illness, varicella, for which vaccine prevention is available and cost-effective. We report yearly rates of affected children, complications, medication use, hospitalizations, parental work absences, and use of special sick-child day care in a population of 4557 households containing 9047 children younger than 13 years of age. Of the 9047 children in the sample, 26.1% were affected by otitis media in the year of the study; 68% of children in the second year of life had at least one episode. About one third of families lost workdays due to otitis media in their children, with an overall average loss of about 3 hours per affected child. Compared with the community burden of varicella, otitis media involves a greater total burden in terms of the number of affected children, the number of episodes, physician visits, prescription drugs, hospitalizations, and surgical procedures. Work loss was 3.4 times greater per family with a varicella case, but the number of families affected by otitis media was 3.3 times greater than for varicella, so that the total amount of family work loss was about the same for both illnesses for the year. The community burden of otitis media should be studied in a population-based longitudinal manner that includes parental work loss as well as health care costs to accurately determine the potential cost-benefit of prevention programs.