Could Childhood Obesity Cause More Ear Infections?

New information about the effects of childhood obesity on the health of children has been released today.

The new study was carried out by South Korean researches. According to the study childhood obesity can be linked to problems with problems of the middle ear called OME.

The researchers say that over weight children can have an increased fluid build up in their middle ears. This is called OME. When fluid builds up in the middle ear it become irritated leading for an ear infection as it does not drain away correctly.

Ear infections in children with OME can be difficult to spot many times the children show no indications of having pain in their ears or other symptoms such as a fever or red eardrum. When child get an ear infection that is not OME it is often times pretty obvious. The child will behave as if they are sick, particularly at nighttime.

Both obesity in childhood and OME are becoming more and more common. The researchers decided to carry out this study because up until they carried it out no one had gone out and investigated a possible link between OME and obesity in children.

The study was carried out at the Kyung Hee University in Seoul, South Korea. The head researcher of the study was Dr. Jong Bin Kim.

The study used 155 children, all between the ages of two and seven. Each child was being treated for OME. Besides these children another 118 children that were not suffering from OME were also studied.

The research findings were just published in the most recent editions of 'Archives of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery'. The study says, "In comparing children with and without otis media with effusion (OME), we found that childhood obesity was significantly higher in children with otits media with effusion." "Childhood obesity may be associated with the occurrence of otits media with effusion."

The investigations into the link between OME ear infections and obese children is still in the early stages. The exact reason for this apparent link has yet to be discovered. To find out more a more in depth, randomised study would have to be carried out.

OME becoming more common

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