External and middle ear conditions associated with disease and dysfunction in African-American and European-American children in a Head Start program

The prevalence of external and middle ear conditions associated with disease and dysfunction was investigated in seventy-four 3-5 year old children from a Head Start preschool program, forty-five African-Americans (23 males, 22 females) and twenty-nine European-Americans (14 males, 15 females). The prevalence of abnormality was determined from ear histories reported by the parent or guardian of the subject and by an otoscopic screening/ tympanometry. When compared to African-American children, European-American children showed a greater percentage of external and middle ear abnormality as indicated by reported ear history and otoscopic screening/tympanometry. Fifty-one percent of African-Americans compared to 62% of European-Americans were abnormal by ear history. Earaches were the most common symptom reported by the parents. Ear drainage/fluid and PE tubes were the most common conditions detected by the otoscopic screening. Forty-nine percent of African-Americans compared to 59% of EuropeanAmericans were abnormal by otoscopic screening/tympanometry. In the present study, European-Americans were abnormal 1.2 times as often as African-Americans. This was true for ear history and for otoscopic screening/tympanometry. However, these differences between European-Americans and African-Americans were not significant. Other investigators found that European-Americans are more likely to be abnormal by ear history and by otoscopic screening/tympanometry, but the differences they report are larger than those obtained in the present study and are also significant. The small differences obtained in the present study may be due to the following factors: subject age and/or socioeconomic class, or the size of the sample in the present study.