Resolution of Otitis Media With Effusion in Children With Cleft Palate Followed Through Five Years of Age.

Objective: To describe the temporal pattern of otitis media with effusion (OME) resolution for a cohort of nonsyndromic cleft palate children enrolled before palatoplasty and followed through 5 years of age. Design: This is a prospective, longitudinal study of the time course for OME resolution in infants and children with palatal clefts. Setting: Cleft Palate Craniofacial Center of a tertiary care pediatric hospital. Participants: This study included 52 children with cleft palate (29 boys, 45 white, Veau 1 through 4) who had a Furlow-type palatoplasty between 10 and 24 months of age performed by one of six surgeons. Interventions: Standard cleft palate management was supplemented with study visits to the research clinic pre- and postpalatoplasty and then yearly to 6 years of age for assessments of middle ear status by interval history, otoscopy, and tympanometry. Main Outcome Measure: The main outcome measure was age at otitis media resolution defined as the age in years at the first in a sequence of “di...