PARENTAL ATTITUDES ABOUT ANTIBIOTIC USE FOR OTITIS MEDIA J Bien, E Doyne, B Kenney, E Jones, R Siegel, S Muething, B Brokaw, P Lichtenstein, K Gupta, L Asmussen, L Olson. Cincinnati Pediatric Research Group, Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH and Department of Practice and Research, Center for Child Health Research, American Academy of Pediatrics, Elk Grove Village, IL. Presented as a platform presentation at the 2000 Pediatric Academic Societies? Annual Meeting.

BACKGROUND: Otitis media is the most common reason for prescribing antibiotic therapy in the United States. Many experts recommend treating otitis media without antibiotics to reduce antibiotic overuse and the emergence of antibiotic resistant organisms, but there is little information on whether parents find this practice acceptable.

OBJECTIVE: To ascertain the attitudes of parents about the use of antibiotics for their child's ear infection.

DESIGN/METHODS: A longitudinal, self-administered survey of parents who had children three years of age or younger with 2 ear infections in the previous 6 months was conducted between November 1998 and May 1999 among 8 pediatric practices in the Cincinnati metropolitan area.

RESULTS: A total of 296 parents (299 approached) completed the survey. Only 7.4% of parents were comfortable with the use of pain relievers alone to treat ear infections, 20% were not sure and 71% disagreed with that approach. Parental concerns about not using antibiotics included: continued pain and symptoms (75%); the child might not get better (72%); the child might develop hearing loss (63.5%); and cost for continued doctor appointments (38%). In contrast, parents were worried about potential side effects of antibiotic therapy (62%) and antibiotics losing effectiveness if taken too often (63%). There were no significant differences in these responses by race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, parental education or marital status.

CONCLUSION: Although parents are worried about potential side effects and antibiotic overuse, the majority of parents were uncomfortable with observation and pain management alone when their child has otitis media. Our results suggest that further efforts are needed to educate parents that otitis media can be managed without antibiotics.