MAIN ISSUES OF CHILDREN'S INCIDENCE OF ACUTE OTITIS MEDIA AND PROSPECTS TO SOLVE THEM

Abstract

The problem of acute otitis media in children is relevant because of the prevalence, social significance, possibility of rapid development of both life−threatening intracranial and intralabyrinthine, mastoid complications, as well as acute or prolonged dysfunction of adjacent cranial nerves, especially auditory, vestibular ones. In order to determine the frequency of various forms of acute otitis media, the nature and extent of its complications in children of different ages there was conducted a retrospective analysis of medical histories of patients treated at the City Clinical Hospital № 30 Kharkiv within 2015−2019. There was stated that the biggest group was composed by the patients with a purulent form of the disease, a slightly smaller number of patients had secretory and viral processes. But when analyzing the data over the years, of interest is the fact that during the period when the number of purulent forms decreased, the number of viral ones increased. Complications include mastoiditis, acute sensorineural hearing loss, cerebrospinal fluid and hypertension and intoxication syndromes. It is important that in acute purulent and viral otitis there is an intoxication syndrome along with the manifestations of acute sensorineural hearing loss. Signs of vestibular dysfunction in children can be disguised as symptoms of intoxication, they are much more difficult to detect. Considering the fact that the snail and the labyrinth are washed by the same liquid, it is logical to assume that in this situation the vestibular analyzer suffers together with the auditory one. Therefore, along with otoneurological research it is necessary to apply instrumental methods for establishment of latent disturbances of function of the vestibular analyzer. According to the research results it was concluded that a more detailed study of vestibular analyzer dysfunction in children with acute otitis media, as they are disguised as symptoms of intoxication. Key words: acute otitis media, frequency, complications, vestibular disorders, children.