Long-term Antibiotics for Treatment and Prevention of Otitis Media in Aborignal Children

Summary

This clinical trial was conducted in a population where tympanic membrane perforation occurs in 60% infants in the first year of life. Nasopharyngeal colonisation (nasal contamination) with pathogenic bacteria occurs within weeks of life and predicts persistent middle ear infection throughout childhood. The trial aimed to assess whether twice daily antibiotics commencing at first detection of middle ear effusion would cure the infection and/or prevent disease progression, compared to placebo. The study was conducted in three remote Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory of Australia. The annual birth cohort was 45. Aboriginal infants were seen as soon as possible after birth, and at 2 weekly intervals until middle ear effusion was detected by pneumatic otoscopy and tympanometry. Following consent, infants were randomised to either amoxycillin(50 mg/kg/d BD) or placebo equivalent for up to 24 weeks, or until normal middle ear status was detected at 2 consecutive monthly scheduled examinations. At monthly examinations the infant also had a general health check, parents were interviewed, child's medical record was reviewed, and nasopharyngeal swabs were collected.

Timeline

Start

1996-04

Primary completion

—

Completion

2001-03

Publications

• Background Leach AJ, Morris PS. Antibiotics for the prevention of acute and chronic suppurative otitis media in children. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2006 Oct 18;2006(4):CD004401. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD004401.pub2.
• Background Morris PS, Leach AJ, Halpin S, Mellon G, Gadil G, Wigger C, Mackenzie G, Wilson C, Gadil E, Torzillo P. An overview of acute otitis media in Australian Aboriginal children living in remote communities. Vaccine. 2007 Mar 22;25(13):2389-93. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2006.09.006. Epub 2006 Sep 22.
• Background Morris PS, Leach AJ, Silberberg P, Mellon G, Wilson C, Hamilton E, Beissbarth J. Otitis media in young Aboriginal children from remote communities in Northern and Central Australia: a cross-sectional survey. BMC Pediatr. 2005 Jul 20;5:27. doi: 10.1186/1471-2431-5-27.
• Background Leach AJ, Morris PS. Perspectives on infective ear disease in indigenous Australian children. J Paediatr Child Health. 2001 Dec;37(6):529-30. doi: 10.1046/j.1440-1754.2001.00729.x.
• Background Coates HL, Morris PS, Leach AJ, Couzos S. Otitis media in Aboriginal children: tackling a major health problem. Med J Aust. 2002 Aug 19;177(4):177-8. doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2002.tb04727.x. No abstract available.
• Results Leach AJ, Morris PS, Smith-Vaughan H, Mathews JD. In vivo penicillin MIC drift to extremely high resistance in Serotype 14 Streptococcus pneumoniae persistently colonizing the nasopharynx of an infant with chronic suppurative lung disease: a case study. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2002 Nov;46(11):3648-9. doi: 10.1128/AAC.46.11.3648-3649.2002.
• Mulvaney CA, Galbraith K, Webster KE, Rana M, Connolly R, Marom T, Daniel M, Venekamp RP, Schilder AG, MacKeith S. Antibiotics for otitis media with effusion (OME) in children. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2023 Oct 23;10(10):CD015254. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD015254.pub2.

Drugs

Indications