The incidence of acute otitis media in New Zealand children under five years of age in the primary care setting

A study of 19,146 children aged less than 5 years, enrolled in 63 general practices in 19/21 DHBs across Aotearoa, during 2008 and 2009, found an overall annual incidence of 27%. The annual incidence was 50% in children aged less than 1 year, and progressively fell with increasing age to 15% in children aged 4-5 years. The annual incidence for all children aged less than 5 years was 27% for Māori, 21% for Pacific, and 28% for children of other ethnicities. Antibiotic treatment was prescribed for 51% of episodes. This was a significant fall in rates of antibiotic prescribing when compared with the rates of antibiotic treatment in 1993-94 (97%) and 2002 (95%). The dramatic fall in rates of antibiotic treatment for otitis media has not resulted in an increase in hospital admissions for children with mastoiditis.