The association between exposure to antibiotics in the first week of life and later otitis media: The INCA study

Abstract

Otitis media (OM) is one of the most common diagnoses in preschool-age children. Its pathophysiology is poorly understood, but is associated with changes in the nasopharyngeal microbiome, immune system, and presence of allergies. These, in turn, can be affected by early-life antibiotic exposure. Therefore, this study aimed to determine if antibiotic treatment in the first week of life in children born at term was associated with acute otitis media (AOM) and otitis media with effusion (OME) in the first 4–6 years of life. Methods: A prospective birth cohort of 436 term-born infants was followed up at 4–6 years of age. Parents reported (recurrent) AOM and OME through online questionnaires, sent to parents of 418 eligible children. Doctors’ diagnoses of AOM and OME were collected after additional informed consent. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to study the association between antibiotic exposure and AOM and OME. Results: Of the 436 infants, 151 infants received antibiotics in the first week of life. In total, 341 (82%) questionnaires were collected. The parental-reported prevalence was 45% (155/341) for AOM. Of these 155 children, 33 children also had OME (10% of the total cohort). Doctor's diagnoses were obtained from 308 (74%) children, of which 30% (91/308) had AOM. Of these 91 children, 12 children also had OME and 8 children had OME without a diagnosis of AOM (6% of the total obtained diagnoses). Antibiotic treatment in the first week of life was not significantly associated with parent-reported nor doctor-diagnosed (recurrent) AOM and OME in the first 4–6 years of life in the regression models. Conclusion: Antibiotic treatment in the first week of life was not associated with AOM and OME in the first 4–6 years of life in this prospective cohort of Dutch infants. More insight into the pathophysiology of OM is warranted to determine whether antibiotic-induced microbiome changes play a role in the susceptibility to OM.