Does Otitis Media Affect Later Language Ability? A Prospective Birth Cohort Study

• Published in: Journal of speech, language, and hearing research language, and hearing research, 2020-07, Vol.63 (7), p.2441-2452
• Main Authors: Brennan-Jones, Christopher G, Whitehouse, Andrew J. O, Calder, Samuel D, Da Costa, Cheryl, Eikelboom, Robert H, Swanepoel, De Wet, Jamieson, Sarra E
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Auditory Tests; Children; Children & youth; Cohort analysis; Correlation; Diseases; Ear diseases; Educational Attainment; Foreign Countries; Hearing Impairments; Hearing loss; Language; Language Acquisition; Language Aptitude; Language proficiency; Language Skills; Otitis media; Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test; Predictor Variables; Receptive Language; Socioeconomic factors; Speech; Variables; Verbal Ability; Vocabulary Development; Young Children
• ISSN: 1092-4388; 1558-9102
• DOI: 10.1044/2020_JSLHR-19-00005

Purpose: The aim of the study was to examine whether otitis media (OM) in early childhood has an impact on language development in later childhood. Methods: We analyzed data from 1,344 second-generation (Generation 2) participants in the Raine Study, a longitudinal pregnancy cohort established in Perth, Western Australia, between 1989 and 1991. OM was assessed clinically at 6 years of age. Language development was measured using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test--Revised (PPVT-R) at 6 and 10 years of age and the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals--Third Edition at 10 years of age. Logistic regression analysis accounted for a wide range of social and environmental covariates. Results: There was no significant relationship between bilateral OM and language ability at 6 years of age ([beta] = -0.56 [-3.78, 2.66], p = 0.732). However, while scores were within the normal range for the outcome measures at both time points, there was a significant reduction in the rate of receptive vocabulary growth at 10 years of age (PPVT-R) for children with bilateral OM at 6 years of age ([beta] = -3.17 [-6.04, -0.31], p = 0.030), but not for the combined unilateral or bilateral OM group ([beta] = -1.83 [-4.04, 0.39], p = 0.106). Conclusions: Children with OM detected at 6 years of age in this cohort had average language development scores within the normal range at 6 and 10 years of age. However, there was a small but statistically significant reduction in the rate of receptive vocabulary growth at 10 years of age (on the PPVT-R measure only) in children who had bilateral OM at 6 years of age after adjusting for a range of sociodemographic factors.