Ear tubes, medically called tympanostomy tubes, are tiny hollow tubes inserted into a child's ear drum. The idea behind the tubes is to equalize the pressure behind the eardrum with the outside. It's also believed tympanostomy tubes promote drainage of fluid that sometimes accumulates in the middle ear (middle ear effusion - MEE).
There are conflicting opinions on whether early insertion of ear tubes in children with persistent middle ear fluid affects their development. Some doctors recommend early insertion believing persistent middle ear fluid affects speech, language, and cognitive development.
Doctors at the University of Pittsburgh studied 429 children under the age of three years who had persistent MEE. Half the children had tubes inserted as soon as the diagnosis was made. The other half didn't have tubes inserted for nine months - and then only if the MEE persisted.
When comparing the two groups, there were no significant differences in their speech, hearing, cognitive, or psychological development. Certain subgroups of children who might be expected to have developmental delays due to their condition - children with MEE in both ears or continuous MEE - showed no difference between the two methods of treatment.
According to Jack R. Paradise, MD, the lead researcher and a well known expert in children's ear disease, "In otherwise normal children who have MEE, during the first three years of life within the durations we studied, prompt insertion of tympanostomy tubes does not measurably improve developmental outcomes at age three years, irrespective of whether MEE has been continuous or discontinuous and unilateral or bilateral and whether or not MEE has been accompanied by mild to moderate hearing loss."
The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, 04/03, pp. 309-14.
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