Ear, Nose and Throat disorders in paediatric patients at a rural hospital in India

Background There is a lack of data on paediatric otorhinolaryngology from various Indian populations. This study was undertaken to determine the hospital prevalence of ENT disorders in paediatric population and their relationship with sociodemographic factors in a rural tertiary care hospital in India. Method A record based, retrospective study conducted at Rural Medical College and Pravara Rural Hospital, Loni which provides tertiary level health care facilities in western Maharashtra, India. The entire paediatric patients reporting to the Outpatient Department of ENT (Ear Nose Throat) during the calendar year 2009 was eligible for inclusion. Results ENT diseases in our study population were found to be more common among male children (53.2%). Majority of the paediatric patients belonged to age group 5-14 years (66.3%), were from lower socioeconomic status (61.2%), living in nuclear family (71.3%) and had illiterate mothers (70.8%). Diseases of auditory system (57.3%) were the most common group of ENT problems among the paediatric population, followed by pharyngoesophageal (27.4%) and nasal (15.3%) disorders. The most common ear, nose and throat disorders were otitis media (18.25%), rhinitis (5.8%) and tonsillitis (11.7%) respectively. Conclusion The study suggests that otitis media, tonsillitis and rhinitis are the most common otorhinolaryngological problems in paediatric population visiting the ENT department of this hospital and contribute significantly to paediatric morbidity. The results from this study cannot be applied to the community as prevalence of these morbidities is likely to be even higher in the general population.