Cost of treating otitis media in Australia

Abstract

Objective: Otitis media (OM) is an inflammation of the middle ear. It is very common and associated with serious complications, including hearing loss. This study aimed to estimate the treatment costs of OM in Australia and the associated burden of disease (in disability-adjusted life-years). Methods: Little Australia-wide epidemiological information is available, so international studies in the main were used to estimate the incidence and prevalence by age and gender. These were triangulated against the available Australian data. Australian health data sets and data collected from the emergency department of a tertiary pediatric hospital were used to estimate the costs of primary care, phar..