Risk factors for glue ear

Acute ear infection

An acute ear infection is a sudden and usually brief infection of the middle ear. Doctors call it acute otitis media or purulent otitis media.

Unlike glue ear, an acute ear infection generally causes ear pain or earache and may also cause a fever. These symptoms happen because parts of your child's ear are infected with bacteria or a virus (both are types of germs). This leads to the inside of your child's ear becoming inflamed. Children with an acute ear infection also have infected fluid and mucus trapped inside their ear.

Several things put your child at higher risk of glue ear.

• Being very young: Glue ear happens most often in children under 2, especially in those between the ages of six months and 18 months. Children tend to grow out of this condition as they get older, although the rate peaks again between five years old and six years old when children start going to school.
• Going to nursery: Children who go to nursery are more likely to get ear infections and glue ear. This is probably because your child may catch infections from other children, and some infections can lead to glue ear. However, research has not shown whether taking children out of nursery helps prevent this condition.
• Being given formula milk as a baby: Breastfeeding, even for a short time, seems to protect babies against glue ear for several years. Researchers think breast milk helps strengthen a baby's immune system (the parts of the body that protect against infection).
• Being near secondhand smoke: Children with parents who smoke are more likely to get ear infections as well as glue ear. Children who have at least one parent who smokes are about 50 percent more likely than other children to get ear infections and 40 percent more likely to get fluid in the ear.
• Getting lots of infections: Glue ear is more likely to affect children who get lots of ear infections, coughs and colds.
• Being in a large family: Having many brothers and sisters increases the risk of glue ear.
• Having a family history of glue ear: A tendency to get glue ear can be passed on through families. If a close relative has had ongoing problems with glue ear, your child is more likely to get the condition.
• Being a boy: Glue ear is more common in boys than in girls.
• Having a cleft palate or a similar condition: Glue ear is more likely to affect children with abnormalities in the structure of their face, such as a cleft palate. The condition is also more common among children with Down's syndrome and other genetic disorders.
• Living in poverty: Glue ear is more likely to affect children from poorer families.Researchers don't know why, but it may be linked to crowded living conditions, poor sanitation, poor medical care or poor diet.