Danyal Rashid, Bashir Ahmad, Sher Mohammad Malik, Zahid Mahmood Rahat, Kamran Zamurrad Malik.
Otitis Media with effusion-cost effective options.
J Coll Physicians Surg Pak Jan ;12(5):274-6.

Objective: To assess the cost effectiveness of options available for management of otitis media with effusion which include only surgical, only medical and surgery in medical treatment failures. Design: Non interventional analytical type of study. Place and Duration of Study: CMH Rawalpindi - a tertiary care medical centre, from 1st January 1996 to 1st January 1998. Subjects and Methods: A total of 358 child patients participated in the study. These children were divided into three groups. Group I (143) were managed by medication only, Group II (215) surgically and Group III (57) included those patients who underwent surgery after failure of medical treatment. Results: The difference in average expenditure per case to clear the effusion and follow-up for a minimum period of 9 months between the most expensive option (surgery) and most cost-effective modality (medical treatment) was Rs. 2819.00. This difference per case is after doing surgery in 57 medical treatment failures. Conclusion: Although the study does not take into consideration the risks, difficulties and complications of options under consideration yet the findings suggest that cost effective management can reduce national expenditure while managing OME specially in present acute economic crises and stress.

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