The Role of Diet in Tympanostomy Tube Otorrhea.

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the role of diet quality in children with tympanostomy tube placement (TTP) complicated by tympanostomy tube otorrhea (TTO).

Study design: Three-day 24-hour diet recall.

Setting: Tertiary care medical center.

Methods: Children between the ages of 2 to 6 years old with TTP performed 6 months to 2 years prior to enrollment were included. Children with a history of Down syndrome, cleft palate, craniofacial syndromes, known immunodeficiency, g-tube dependent, or a non-English speaking family were excluded. The primary outcome variable was TTO. The primary predictor was total caloric intake measured by percent estimated energy rate (%EER).

Results: A total of 120 families completed the 3-day diet recall. The median age was 27 months (interquartile range: 7.9-68.5), with 57% male sex. Most children reported dietary intake within the recommended range percent intake for carbohydrates and fat and less than recommended range for percent vitamin D. Within this cohort 63 (52.5%) participants had >1 TTO episode and 57 (47.5%) 1 TTO episode. Children with an EER% that was average or high were at higher odds of >1 TTO episodes compared to participants with a low EER% with ORs of 4.6 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.4, 15.6) and 5.7 (95% CI: 1.5, 22.1) respectively.

Conclusion: Children with a typical or high total daily caloric intake are approximately 5 to 6 times more likely to have multiple TTO episodes compared to those with low intake.