Developmental impairments in children have been attributed to persistent middle-ear effusion in their early years of life. Previously, researchers reported that among children younger than 3 years of age with persistent middle-ear effusion, prompt as compared with delayed insertion of tympanostomy tubes did not result in improved cognitive, language, speech, or psychosocial development at 3, 4, or 6 years of age.
However, other important components of development could not be assessed until the children were older.
Researchers enrolled 6350 infants soon after birth and evaluated them regularly for middle-ear effusion. Before 3 years of age, 429 children with persistent effusion were randomly assigned to undergo the insertion of tympanostomy tubes either promptly or up to 9 months later if effusion persisted. Researchers assessed literacy, attention, social skills, and academic achievement in 391 of these children at 9 to 11 years of age.
These measures included the Passage Comprehension subtest of the Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests (mean score, 98?12 in the early-treatment group and 99?12 in the delayed-treatment group); the Spelling, Writing Samples, and Calculation subtests of the Woodcock?Johnson III Tests of Achievement (96?13 and 97?16; 104?14 and 105?15; and 99?13 and 99?13, respectively); and inattention ratings on visual and auditory continuous performance tests.
In otherwise healthy young children who have persistent middle-ear effusion, as defined in study, prompt insertion of tympanostomy tubes does not improve developmental outcomes up to 9 to 11 years of age.