Incidence of Acute Otitis Media and Sinusitis Complicating Upper Respiratory Tract Infection: The Effect of Age

Infants and young children are prone to developing upper respiratory tract infections, which often result in bacterial complications such as acute otitis media and sinusitis. We evaluated 623 upper respiratory tract infection episodes in 112 children (6-35 months of age) to determine the proportion of upper respiratory tract infection episodes that result in acute otitis media or sinusitis. Of all upper respiratory tract infections, 30% were complicated by acute otitis media and 8% were complicated by sinusitis. The rate of acute otitis media after upper respiratory tract infection declined with increasing age, whereas the rate of sinusitis after upper respiratory tract infection peaked in the second year of life. Risk for acute otitis media may be reduced substantially by avoiding frequent exposure to respiratory viruses (eg, avoidance of day care attendance) in the first year of life.