Overweight children more likely to need ear tubes

New research from scientists in South Korea suggests that obesity may be a factor in the risk of middle ear infections with fluid in children.

Such infections increase the likelihood that a child will need to have tubes inserted in the ears to drain the fluid, to prevent the recurrence of chronic middle ear infection.

As a rule otitis media with effusion, or middle ear inflammation with the collection of fluid in the area, usually improves without treatment, but if the fluid refuses to drain away on its own a child may need to have drainage tubes placed in their ears.

Dr. Jong Bin Kim of Kyung Hee University in Seoul and colleagues noticed that middle ear infections appeared to be increasingly common, along with overweight and obesity among children.

In order to determine if there might be a link they compared a group of 155 children, age 2 to 7 years old, who had ear tubes inserted to treat middle ear infections, with 118 children who had no history of middle ear infection, who were undergoing surgery for other reasons.

Based on BMI, 65 children (42%) were obese, but most had normal levels of total cholesterol and triglycerides, while 19% had abnormally high total cholesterol levels and 35% had abnormally high triglyceride levels.

They found that the average weight in the middle ear infection group was significantly higher than in the group without middle ear infection, and these children also had higher cholesterol levels, but their triglyceride levels were not elevated.

When the researchers compared the frequency of tube insertion between the obese and non-obese groups, they found no significant difference but they suggest that obese children may be more likely to have fluid build-up in the middle part of their ears.

The research is published in the Archives of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery.