Methods and materials:
A retrospective case series analysis was conducted, including all
patients hospitalized due to NOE between the years 1990-2018. The
research was conducted in compliance and approval of the requirements of
the medical center’s institutional review board; the Human Subject
Research Committee.
Inclusion criteria included: 1) patients 18 years and above 2) diagnosed
NOE, based on the Cohen and Friedman classification93)
absence of chronic middle ear disease 4) no history of ear surgery due
to chronic ear disease 5) hospitalization duration of more than 7 days.
Exclusion criteria included: 1) patients younger than 18 years, 2)
history of chronic middle ear disease 3) patients who underwent surgery
due to chronic ear disease 4) hospitalization duration of less than 7
days.
Data collected included: 1) patients age and gender 2) complaints at
admission 3) physical findings at admission 4) laboratory findings 5)
radiological imaging 6) culture results7) antibiotic treatment 8) type
of surgery performed 9)duration of hospitalization.
Medical and laboratory data retrieved in order to evaluate DMincluded:
1) duration of DM 2) medical comorbidities associated with DM at time of
admission 3) hemoglobin A1c levels (HbA1c) reflecting DM control at time
of admission 4) Most recentmicro-albuminuria levels, defined as
microalbuminuria collected up to six months prior to admission 5) Blood
glucose measurements duringhospitalization. For statistical analysis,
and based on the American diabetes association10, mean
blood glucose measurements were divided into two groups using a cutoff
of 140 mg/dL.
Two main measures were used in order to evaluate disease outcome: 1)
duration of hospitalization – patients hospitalized more or less than
20 days 2) need for surgical intervention under general anesthesia.