Xylitol for prevention of acute otitis media

The prophylactic administration of xylitol among healthy children with no acute upper respiratory infection attending day care centres reduces the occurrence of AOM by 25%.

Summary

A Cochrane review included 4 studies with over 3000 children. All studies were conducted in Finland.

In three RCTs with a total of 1826 healthy Finnish children attending day care, there was a reduced risk of occurrence of AOM in the xylitol group (in any form) compared to the control group (RR 0.75; 95% CI 0.65 to 0.88). The fourth RCT included 1277 Finnish day care children with a respiratory infection and found no effect of xylitol on reducing the occurrence of AOM (RR 1.13; 95% CI 0.83 to 1.53). Xylitol chewing gum was superior to xylitol syrup in preventing AOM among healthy children (RR 0.59; 95% CI 0.39 to 0.89) but not during respiratory infection (RR 0.68; 95% CI 0.43 to 1.07). There was no difference between xylitol lozenges and xylitol syrups in preventing AOM among healthy children (RR 0.77; 95% CI 0.53 to 1.11) or among children during respiratory infection (RR 0.74; 95% CI 0.47 to 1.14). Similarly, no difference was noted between xylitol chewing gum and xylitol lozenges in preventing AOM among healthy children (RR 0.73; 95% CI 0.47 to 1.13) or among children during respiratory infection (RR 0.92; 95% CI 0.59 to 1.46). Among the reasons for drop-outs, there were no significant differences in abdominal discomfort and rash between the xylitol and the control groups.

Note

Date of latest search: 28 January 2016

Ədəbiyyat

1. Azarpazhooh A, Limeback H, Lawrence HP, Shah PS. Xylitol for preventing acute otitis media in children up to 12 years of age. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2011, Issue 11. Art. No.: CD007095 [Assessed as up-to-date: 28 January 2016].