Tympanometry in Three-Year-Old Children: II. Seasonal Influence on Tympanometric Results in Non-selected Groups of Three-year-old Children

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Abstract
Screening tympanometry was performed in January 1976 and in August 1978 on 938 healthy 3-year-old children (1868 ears), constituting more than 95% of the total population of 3-year-olds living in a Danish provincial municipality at the time of testing. Seasonal influence upon the occurrence of middle ear effusion and tubal dysfunction, not previously quantitated by systematic studies on preschool children, was thus elucidated by comparing the prevalence of these conditions in winter and in summer. There was a statistically significant preponderance of pathological tympanometry in winter, but the difference was not overwhelming. The findings emphasize that problems relating to a disturbed middle ear function in early childhood are of great practical importance throughout the year.