Acute Otitis Media
Acute otitis media (AOM) is the most cited indication for antibiotics in children, accounting for 24% of all pediatric antibiotic prescriptions and affecting 60% of children by 3 years of age. For most children ≥ 2 years of age with AOM, 5-7 days, rather than 10 days, of antibiotics have been shown to be sufficient and result in fewer adverse drug events with similar failure and recurrence rates. Thus, national guidelines recommend short durations of antibiotics for non-severe AOM in this age group. Despite these recommendations, >94% of children ≥2 years of age are prescribed longer than recommended antibiotic durations and over 41% of antibiotic exposure days for AOM in this age group are likely unnecessary.
In collaboration with Denver Health and Vanderbilt University, community primary care providers associated with WU PAARC are participating in Reducing Length of Antibiotics for Children with Ear Infections (RELAX). The goal of this study is to compare the effectiveness and implementation outcomes of two low-cost pragmatic interventions of different intensities to increase prescribing of recommended short antibiotic durations for AOM for children 2 years of age and older.
