It has recently been hypothesised that large amounts of amniotic fluid cellular content (AFCC) in the middle ear may lead to chronic inflammation and predispose young children to recurrent middle ear infections. Because children born with meconium-stained amniotic fluid (MSAF) have higher AFCC in the middle ear, we performed a retrospective cohort study to determine whether children born with MSAF had a higher risk of OM during infancy. Children born between May 1998 and April 2000 formed two groups based on the absence or presence of MSAF at birth as documented in the hospital birth records. In April 2002, home visits were made to take tympanometric measurements and administer a questionnaire on OM history and possible confounders. Logistic regression models were constructed to assess odds ratios (OR) as a measure of the effect of MSAF on OM and to adjust for potential confounders. There were no differences in the point prevalence of a type-B tympanogram at the home visit (OR 0.81; 95% confidence interval: 0.38–1.76). Also, no statistically significant association was found between the proportion of children with OM diagnosed in the 1st year of life (OR 0.86, 95% confidence interval: 0.27–2.73) and in the proportion of children that had ever been diagnosed with OM (OR 0.91, 95% confidence interval: 0.40–2.91). It can be concluded that children born with MSAF do not constitute a high-risk group for OM in early childhood. A long-term OM effect, especially in severe MSAF cases, cannot be excluded.
