Relevant and irrelevant predisposing factors in secretory otitis media.

A prospective epidemiologic study in 2065 healthy children aged 21/2 to 6 years to determine the incidence of secretory otitis media (SOM) also provided information about the role of various factors that are suggested to predispose to SOM. The results of this study were compared with earlier reports by other authors. The factors could be classified into four groups: predisposing factors without any doubt, factors without any significant influence on SOM, controversial factors, and factors that are not sufficiently documented. Particular attention is paid to upper respiratory tract infections, systemic disorders, age, race, sex, maturity at birth, environmental factors, consumption of antibiotics and genetic predisposition.