The effect of ventilation tube insertion to the health-related quality of life in a group of children in Southeast Anatolia.

OBJECTIVE: To demonstrate the influence of ventilation tube insertion to the quality of life in a group of children in Southeast Anatolia by Otitis Media 6-item (OM6) questionnaire.

DESIGN: Patients who underwent ventilation tube insertion due to otitis media with effusion (OME) at Otorhinolaryngology Department of Gaziantep University between December 2016 and April 2017 were enrolled in this prospective study. All patients were evaluated with the OM-6 survey before operation and 6 weeks after surgery.

RESULTS: The mean age of 45 patients out of 50 accounted for 67.64 ± 42.89 months with 27 (60%) males and 18 (40%) females. The numbers of preoperative and postoperative overall OM6 scores represented a significant improvement with 4.34 and 2.16, respectively. Moreover, each domain of OM6 (physical suffering, hearing loss, speech impairment, emotional distress, activity limitations and caregiver concerns) showed statistically significant difference.

CONCLUSION: Ventilation tube insertion procedure provided a significant improvement in a group of children in Southeast Anatolia suffering from chronic OME in terms of Quality of Life (QOL) assessed by OM6. We believe that OM6 is a useful tool for evaluating the patients' health-related quality of life and for providing additional information to the caregivers' or families' enquiries regarding the consequences of surgical intervention.