EDITOR'S NOTE. This review article was recruited for Pediatrics in Review. It proved longer than anticipated and too long for Pediatrics in Review, but all who reviewed it agreed that it covers the important subject of otitis media in such a comprehensive fashion that it should be published intact. We are publishing it in Pediatrics, but listing the Educational Objectives from the 1979-80 PREP and indexing it in April 1980 Pediatrics in Review in order for readers to find it readily when reviewing for recertification or the self-administered graded exam. (R.J.H.) EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: (1) Appropriate knowledge to evaluate and manage the child with chronic or recurrent otitis media (Recent Advances 79/80); (2) Appropriate knowledge to evaluate middle-ear disease in children suspected of having impaired hearing (Recent Advances 79/80); (3) Appropriate knowledge to evaluate and manage the child with cleft palate and otitis media (Recent Advances 79/80); (4) Appropriate evaluation of a child with recurrent upper respiratory infections and impaired hearing, and knowledge to diagnose and manage: (a) sensorineural hearing loss, (b) otitis media, (c) obstruction of the auditory canal, (d) perforation of tympanic membranes, or (e) cholesteatoma (Topics 79/80). Pediatrics 65:917-943, 1980; otitis media, cleft palate and otitis media, myringotomy, tympanometry, tympanostomy tubes, hearing deficit due to otitis media. Otitis media, next to the simple upper respiratory infection, is the most common organic disease confronting the practicing pediatrician.1-3 Moreover, otitis media has important economic and health care implications for a variety of other reasons: it must be considered in the differential diagnosis of obscure fevers; it is often the basis for prescribing commonly used agents such as antimicrobials, decongestants, and antihistamines; it may be involved in the development of bacterial meningitis and other central nervous system infections; and it often constitutes the basis for undertaking one or more of the most frequently performed operations of infancy and childhood, namely, myringotomy with or without tympanostomy tube insertion, adenoidectomy, and tonsillectomy.