Abuse and Timing of Use of Antibiotics in Acute Otitis Media

Abstract

The "antibiotic timing treatment" of acute otitis media signifies that therapy with antibiotics is initiated only when signs of otitic complications are threatening or present. The advantages of this timing treatment are as follows: (1) 88% of patients with acute otitis media never need antibiotics; (2) reaching a dry ear does not show any time retardation of clinical importance; (3) frequency of mastoidectomy is low; (4) frequency of recurrence of otitis media in the first month after recovery is low as compared with that in those "routinely" treated with antibiotics from any of the first seven days of disease; (5) in those treated with antibiotics, risk of recurrence is high, especially when treatment was begun from the first day of disease; (6) in those treated with the timing principle method, the frequency of recurrence in the first month differs only negligibly (1.3 times) from that of those not treated with antibiotics.