Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36778556›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in public health2023

Social distancing cut down the prevalence of acute otitis media in children.

Huiqian Yu, Dantong Gu, Fangzhou Yu, Qingzhong Li

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in public health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
2.4field-weighted citation impact, top 13% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed, 7 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Post-Pandemic Surge in Complications of Acute Otitis Media.Turkish archives of otorhinolaryngology · 2025
    Article
  4. Trends in the incidence and burden of otitis media in children: a global analysis from 1990 to 2021.European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology : official journal of the European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology - Head and Neck Surgery · 2025
    Article
  5. Impact of COVID-19 pandemic: increase in complicated upper respiratory tract infections requiring ENT surgery?European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology : official journal of the European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology - Head and Neck Surgery · 2024
    Article
  6. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Huiqian YuState Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, NHC Key Laboratory of Hearing Medicine Research, Department of ENT Institute and Otorhinolaryngology, Eye and ENT Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Dantong GuState Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, NHC Key Laboratory of Hearing Medicine Research, Department of ENT Institute and Otorhinolaryngology, Eye and ENT Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Fangzhou YuState Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, NHC Key Laboratory of Hearing Medicine Research, Department of ENT Institute and Otorhinolaryngology, Eye and ENT Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Qingzhong LiState Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, NHC Key Laboratory of Hearing Medicine Research, Department of ENT Institute and Otorhinolaryngology, Eye and ENT Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Eye & ENT Hospital of Fudan University · CN

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Objectives: To evaluate the additional, unintended benefits of social distancing in cutting down the prevalence of acute otitis media (AOM) in children, especially during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) periods. Methods: The daily outpatient attendance of AOM for childhood (from 6 months to 12 years) was compared in the tertiary hospital in Shanghai during pre-COVID-19 and COVID-19 year. Results: A total of 24,543 AOM cases were included from 2015 to 2020. When age was taken into account, children in kindergarten (aged 4-6) constitute 66.2% (16,236/24,543) of all case, followed by primary school students (6,441/24,543, 26.2%) and preschoolers <3 years old (1,866/24,543, 7.6%). There was an estimated 63.6% (54.32-70.36%) reduction in the daily outpatient attendance of AOM associated with the introduction of social distancing in 2020 (COVID-19 year). The epidemic trend of AOM in 2015-2019 was characterized by seasonal fluctuations, with highest incidence in December (18.8 ± 0.5%) and lower in February (4.5 ± 0.2%), June (3.7 ± 0.7%) and August (3.5 ± 0.5%). And distribution characteristics of different ages in COVID-19 period broadly in line with that in non-pandemic period. Conclusion: Seasonal fluctuation in the prevalence of AOM was observed in pre-COVID-19 period (2015-2019), with a peak in winter and a nadir in summer. The >50% drop of outpatient attendance of AOM in 2020 (COVID-19 year) suggest that social distancing, mask effects and good hand hygiene can significantly reduce the incidence of AOM, which provides a preventive and therapeutic point of view for AOM.

Indexed as

COVID-19Otitis MediaAcute DiseaseChildChild, PreschoolChinaHumansPhysical DistancingPrevalenceacute otitis mediachildrenCOVID-19epidemiologysocial distancing

Identifiers

PMID36778556
PMCPMC9911446
OpenAlexW4318192217

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.