The Bane of Childhood

The Bane of Childhood

Earaches are the most common health complaint among children

Measles, mumps, and whooping cough are considered childhood rites of passage, but the most recurring of all children’s aliments is the middle ear infection. Indeed, a recent study by the National Center for Health Statistics shows that earaches among children are soaring. The number of doctor’s visits for ear infection climb. In four out of five cases, the patient is a child under age 15. For children under 2, the proportion of doctors’ visits prompted by earaches jumped 225 percent.

The reasons for the sharp increase are unclear. Susan Schappert, author of the NCHS study believes that day care programs may be partly to blame. “More kids are in day care,” she says, “so that increased contact could cause more ear infections.”

Young children are especially susceptible, experts say, because of the shortness of their Eustachian tubes, which is the canal leading from the middle ear to the mouth, nasal passages, and esophagus. The shorter tubes make it much easier for infection to reach the middle ear when a small child comes down with a cold.

Improvements in diagnostic equipment could also help explain the rise in reported cases. Thanks to an instrument called a tympanometer, doctors are able to detect middle ear infections that might have gone undiagnosed in the past.

Along with the climb in ear infections has been a steep increase in middle ear surgeries on children. But recent studies suggest that the surgical approach may have been overdone. Published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the study found that of 6,429 proposed surgeries to place small, plastic tubes in the ears to drain fluids, only 42 percent were “appropriate.” Another 35 percent were “equivocal,” and 23 percent were deemed “inappropriate.” The researchers said that, in many cases a simple antibiotic treatment may have been just as effective.

Anime-manga-style. Illustration: Elena

Childhood Disease Schedule

Measles: Incubation period 7 to 14 days, Fever 1 to 5 days, Rush Day 4, dull red blotches, Swollen glands on the neck, Cough – day 1

Rubella: Incubation period 14 to 21 days, Fever 1 to 2 days, Rush Day 2 or 3, flat, light red spots, Neck, back of the neck, Cough – none

Chicken Pox: Incubation period 7 to 21 days, Fever Variable, Rush Day 1, groups of itchy, red spots, become blisters, Swollen glands none, Cough – none

Mumps: Incubation period 14 to 28 days, Fever 1 day, Rush none, Swollen glands on one or both sides of the face, Cough – none

Whooping Cough: Incubation period 7 to 14 days, Fever Week 1, Rush none, Swollen glands none, Cough – Week 1, gets worse, wek 2, severe bouts, characteristic whoop.