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Middle ear effusion (MEE) following acute otitis media (AOM) can last for weeks and potentially affect hearing. Antibiotics can decrease the symptoms of AOM, but are often withheld by pediatricians in favor of symptomatic treatment alone and to avoid antibiotic side effects and resistance. To examine whether antibiotics also improve MEE resolution, researchers in Finland randomized 84 children (mean age, 4 years) with AOM (mean number of previous AOM episodes, 5) to receive a 7-day course of amoxicillin-clavulanate or placebo.
MEE resolution, defined as normalization of daily tympanometry obtained by caregivers, occurred at a mean of 19 and 33 days in the antibiotic and placebo groups, respectively. Normal otoscopy also was achieved signific…