The relationship between acute mastoiditis and antibiotic use for acute otitis media in children

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To determine the relationship between prior antibiotic use and the development of acute mastoiditis (AM) in children. DESIGN: Retrospective review. SETTING: Tertiary pediatric center. PATIENTS: We identified 129 patients with AM who were admitted to our center between 1996 and 2005. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Proportion of children who developed AM. RESULTS: A total of only 67 patients (51.9%) had undergone any antimicrobial treatment prior to hospital admission. In 1996, 64% of patients with AM had received antibiotics for acute otitis media (AOM) prior to admission (n = 7 of 11), but this percentage had steadily decreased to 27% by 2005 (n = 4 of 15). The yearly number of cases of AM..