Epidemiology of Pediatric Tympanostomy Tube Placement in the United States

The prevalence of pediatric tympanostomy tube placement (TTP) in the United States has not been reassessed in the past decade. To assess the prevalence of TTP and frequent ear infections (FEI), the National Health Interview Survey for the calendar year 2014 was used. Among 73.1 million children, 6.26 million (8.6%) had TTP. The incidence of FEI was 3.49 million (4.8%). Males (9.6%) were more likely than females (7.5%) to undergo TTP ( P =. 004). Among children under 2 years of age, 9.1% reported FEI, compared to 3.9% of children aged 3 to 17 years. Among children under 2 years of age, 25% with FEI received TTP vs 1.5% without FEI ( P <. 001). Among children aged 3 to 17 years, 31.1% with FEI received TTP vs 8.6% without FEI ( P <. 001). TTP may be increasing nationally, although further assessment of adherence to clinical practice guidelines is needed to investigate this potential trend.