Passive smoking and middle ear effusions in children of British servicemen in West Germany--a point prevalence survey by clinics of outpatient attendance.

Three hundred and twenty eight children of British servicemen serving in West Germany were studied in order to ascertain any relationship between parental smoking and the presence of middle ear effusion. The age range of the children was 18 months to 8 years. A questionnaire was completed by the parents of each child, and clinical examination and audiological tests demonstrated the presence or otherwise of middle ear effusions. One hundred and sixty four patients who had been referred with otological symptoms to the Ear, Nose and Throat Out Patient Department (ENT OPD) were surveyed, as were 164 other patients drawn from the Paediatric, Orthopaedic and Ophthalmic Out Patient Departments (OPDs) at BMH Rinteln. These 2 groups had similar age and sex distributions. The presence of middle ear effusions amongst children attending the ENT OPD was strongly associated with maternal cigarette smoking. This finding implies that mothers should not smoke at all in the same living accommodation as that used by their children. Paternal cigarette smoking showed no significant association with the presence of middle ear effusions.