The purpose of this study is to compare patient trends in otitis media with effusion (OME) symptoms and diagnoses before and after the COVID-19 pandemic in order to investigate the effects of the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19). A retrospective, multi-center, observational study was carried out between January 2018 and December 2022 at hospitals in the Iwate Prefecture with full-time doctors. All patients were initially separated into two groups, one for the pre-COVID-19 era (from January 2018 to June 2020), and the other for the COVID-19 era (from July 2020 to December 2022). In the pre-COVID-19 era, 132 patients had tympanostomy tubes (TT) placed, while 64 patients had them placed in the COVID-19 era. Between the pre-COVID-19 and COVID-19 eras, there were no statistically significant differences in terms of age, sex, side, craniofacial deformity, or adenoidectomy. Children in elementary school showed a greater decline than those in preschool (42–11 patients in elementary school (74%) and 49 to 32 patients in preschool school (35%); p = 0.025). The percentage of TT placements for OME dropped to roughly half during the COVID-19 epidemic. This was particularly obvious in elementary school students.

中文翻译：

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COVID-19 大流行对儿童渗出性中耳炎的影响：日本北部的多中心回顾性调查

本研究的目的是比较 COVID-19 大流行前后的渗出性中耳炎 (OME) 症状和诊断的患者趋势，以调查 2019 年冠状病毒病 (COVID-19) 的影响。 2018 年 1 月至 2022 年 12 月期间，在岩手县的医院中，由全职医生进行了一项回顾性、多中心、观察性研究。所有患者最初被分为两组，一组为 COVID-19 之前时代（从 2018 年 1 月至 2020 年 6 月），另一组为 COVID-19 时代（从 2020 年 7 月至 2022 年 12 月）。在 COVID-19 之前的时代，有 132 名患者放置了鼓膜造口管 (TT)，而在 COVID-19 时代，有 64 名患者放置了鼓膜造口管 (TT)。在COVID-19之前和COVID-19时代之间，在年龄、性别、侧面、颅面畸形或腺样体切除方面没有统计学上的显着差异。小学儿童的下降幅度大于学前班儿童（小学 42-11 名患者（74%），学前班 49-32 名患者（35%）；p = 0.025）。在 COVID-19 疫情期间，OME 的 TT 安置比例下降到大约一半。这在小学生中表现得尤为明显。